London Calling
by yglivetoparty
Summary: In 18th century London, Mount Olympus is in its most vulnerable moment. Jack Brown, son of Poseidon, and a group of demigods will travel through England to prevent the fall of the gods and the end of western civilization as they know it.
1. Jumpin' Jack Flash

_**A/N: This story contains original characters, on an original setting in an alternative universe of Camp Half-Blood. It's a free reinterpretation of the Percy Jackson universe, but it happens on the same timeline as **_**PJ&O**_**, **_**The Heroes of Olympus**_** and my last story **_**The Son of Aphrodite**_**. The historic references and places visited in this story are not always accurate, for artistic purposes. Language expressions and customs were also followed loosely. Read, review, but most importantly, enjoy! :)**_

_**Pedro.**_

Chapter 1

Jumpin' Jack Flash

I've always had a strange relationship with water. Nothing can make me feel so calm, so in peace. I couldn't go a day without its cold embrace giving me strength, making me forget my problems. But at the same time, water always made me feel a little bit uneasy. As if it was something I resented, that I was trying to forget. Whenever I was under water, I'd think about the life I could've had if my father hadn't abandoned me and my mom before I was even born. Or if my mom hadn't set sail to America, leaving me as a 13 year old orphan with no one to turn to, at the mercy of London's cruel corners and alleys. Water was everything I had left and everything I had ever lost.

And so, there I was, meters deep inside the River Thames on that Wednesday morning. When I needed help the most, the water was the first place I turned to. I looked up, the gray sunlight was shining in the sky, behind the curtain of water. I couldn't be in there for too long, but I couldn't come back up either. If I stayed, I'd drown and put an end to my miserable existence after 17 years of running through the streets of London, fighting for survival on a daily basis. If I emerged, prison would be waiting for me, probably for a good amount of years. Prison or death. It was a choice that I refused to make.

And to think that that Wednesday had started so promising…

My name is Jack Brown and, for someone with no possessions at all, I had seen a reasonable amount of carriage interiors. All of them, under the same circumstances as this last one. And by circumstances, I mean a young lady's skirt.

Now, you see… For some reason, young rich girls seem to like me. Maybe it's my bad boy charm, maybe it's the dangerous vibe, I never knew for sure. And I was only average looking—Tall, wavy black hair, milky skin and green eyes. But yet, there I was again, inside a moving carriage with another daughter of a wealthy merchant or nobleman.

"Oh, Jack," Katrina moaned, her legs wrapped tight around my head. "Right there, Jack!"

Wait, I can't quite remember if her name was Katrina or Jane. Or maybe Bridget. Like I said, I have a lot of "friends" in high places. Focused on what I was doing, it took me a while to realize that the carriage had stopped and that Katrina, Jane or Bridget was now quiet, her thighs tense around me.

"You filthy bastard!"

Before I could react, a hand grabbed me by the jacket and pulled me off of the carriage. I landed on the dirt, dangerously close to a pile of horse excrement. "How rude," I said, getting up. A pair of infuriated blue eyes stared at me. The man wore a long, white wig that matched his thick moustache, his robes were neat and pretentiously expensive. It didn't take much to conclude that I must've been before Mr. Katrina, Jane or Bridget's father.

"You will never see the sunlight again, you low life!" he threatened, grabbing me by the jacket. "I will make you pay for corrupting my daughter!"

"If I got a quid for every time I heard that, sir, I'd be wearing clothes as fancy as yours," I said, looking at the man's turquoise garments. "Perhaps a little bit more stylish, but still."

He threw me back on the floor, grinning maliciously. Standing on each side of him was an armed guard looking eager to rip me to pieces or throw me in confinement or worse. Sadistic people are the riches' guards. Specially these two. There was something about their scarlet eyes, sharp teeth and ugly faces. Somehow, they didn't seem human at all.

"Father, please! Let him go!" Katrina, Jane or Bridget shouted from inside the carriage. Mr. Turquoise ignored the pleads of his daughter and pointed a knife at me. "Someone needs to clean London from scum like you."

The two guards started coming toward me and I was forced to act quick.

"Oh, I totally agree, sir."

I pulled Mr. Turquoise's wig, threw it in the air and ran away as fast as I could, pulling up my pants along the way. After a brief second of confusion, while the guards' tiny brains were deciding what course of action to take, they started to pursue me through the crowded and confusing streets of the city. It takes practice to know how to navigate properly in the middle of all the carriages, horses, people and fruit stands, and I was doing that for years.

I tried to blend in the crowd, but the pair of armed guards was too close behind for me to escape their sight. I turned around a corner and smiled. A parked carriage pulled by two horses was just before me, the conductor sleeping instead of keeping an eye on the animals.

I don't know why, but I've always had a way with horses. I came closer and stared urgently at the beautiful brown stallion on the right. _Help me, _I thought, jumping on its back. He fought against the ropes tying him to the carriage and galloped away from the guards carrying me, while the conductor screamed in surprise and frustration.

"Horse thief! Horse thief! Get him!"

I'm sorry, but horses choose their riders, I thought, and I could swear the stallion uttered a neigh in approval.

We made our way through the chaotic streets and I relaxed, thinking the guards were far behind us by now. When they reappeared around a corner, each riding their own horse.

"Bloody hell, can't I have one moment of peace?" I said to myself. The loyal stallion tried harder to help me, but the guards' horses were stronger and faster.

"You've done a lot already, chap, thanks." I whispered to him before jumping off his back and dashing through a narrow alley where the guards and their animals would never fit. On the other side of it, I stopped and tried to regain my breath. The Thames rested peacefully in front of me.

I heard screams and spotted the guards racing toward me after going around the block. Their scarlet eyes craving for blood. My blood. My heart raced as I tried to come up with a way out. Thinking back on it, I could've gone back the same alley, but I guess I was too nervous to think about the most obvious option. Plus, something inside me told me that there was only one place where I'd be safe for good, where they could never reach me. I swallowed dry and dived into the Thames, free falling for almost ten meters before hitting the river and sinking like a rock.

Suddenly there was no more noise, no more chaos. I had left London and was now in another place. A better, more pleasant place. But as much as I didn't want to go back up, I was a man, not a fish. After a few minutes, my throat started to close, my chest threatening to explode. I was drowning, but I couldn't come back up. No, I would not be taken to prison, I would not let myself be caught. My vision started to blur and I closed my eyes, my body struggling for air, but my mind feeling totally at peace. I was dying the same way I've been all my life—Completely alone. It couldn't be more appropriate.

I opened my eyes and saw nothing but darkness at first. I was sure I was dreaming because I had no idea how I got there. I sat down and tried to remember something, but my mind was blank. I ran my fingers through my hair and my heart raced. I moved my arms and tried to get up. I was almost weightless, surrounded by a pleasant feeling of protection. I looked up and spotted the sun, shining faintly dozens of meters above me. I almost choked on nothing. I was under water, sleeping on the bottom of the Thames. I couldn't think straight, I forced myself up, struggling to get out of there as soon as possible. My head emerged and I took a deep and desperate breath, swam to the margin and got up on a stone ladder that would take me back to the street above.

I stopped and looked around as everything came back to me suddenly. I jumped on the river to escape from the guards that were after me. I jumped there to hide. How long was I under water? A minute? An hour? I looked around, there was no sign of the guards anywhere. In fact, the streets were a lot more empty and the sky getting darker every second.

"Excuse me, sir," I asked a man walking by. "Can you tell me what time it is?" He analyzed the soaking wet 17 year old before him and took a watch out of his pocket. "It's time to go home, boy. The streets are a dangerous place at night for someone so young."

I just stood there in shock while he walked away. Maybe I was going crazy, but I was sure that it was still the morning when I was in that carriage with that girl, when I jumped in the Thames to hide from those guards. The question was what happened to the almost 8 hours between then and now? I looked at the water and a shiver went down my spine. No, I was going crazy.

I walked all the way to the public library, a huge building the size of an entire block that I called home. The place was overseen by a man named Mr. Ledge. He was a tiny, chubby man with a pointy goatee and curly hair. He never let go of his cane, because he couldn't walk properly. He said it was the result of a horseback riding accident when he was still a kid.

Mr. Ledge found me living in the street, four years before, a few months after my mother abandoned me. He offered me the roof of the library and the food of his table as long as I helped him run the place. He was a lonely, sometimes rude old man that seemed to hate everything and everyone, even himself. He was the head librarian, but hated books. No siblings, no wife, no children. He was completely alone in this city, just like me, which is why I think we get along so well. The only rule of the house was we never meddle in each other's business, and I was totally okay with that.

I walked into the library and spotted Mr. Ledge organizing some heavy volumes on the mythology section.

"Ay, Brown! A little help here?" he shouted with his thick voice. I stopped before him, my clothes dripping water. He arched his eyebrows and turned red. "Forget it, you're in no condition to handle books."

"It's not like anyone would notice, no one comes after those old mythology books," I said, my eyes running through the high shelves. "I love them, but I'm just saying."

"Good for you, Brown. The people of this country disappoint me. No wonder they are rumored to be going someplace else." He said. I stared at him confused. "Who are you talking about?"

Mr. Ledge shrugged and shouted. "No one! Go put some dry clothes, you're going to make someone slide and fall!" He stopped and thought about it. "On a second thought, stay. I'd love to see that."

I laughed and walked away, trying not to think about what had happened earlier. The interior of the library was magnificent with its high ceiling and shelves, standing around us like great pillars of knowledge. Four years there and I learned more than I could learn in any school of the city. Mr. Ledge made sure I always had something to read, especially if it involved Greek and Roman myths. The old, grumpy man had a weak spot for gods and goddesses, and after spending so much time with him, I started to develop one as well. Stories about heroes and quests were personally my favorites.

I slept in a tiny room that was meant to be a broom cupboard. It was big enough to fit only a small bed and a few shelves of books. I took off my wet clothes and lay in bed, my heart feeling as heavy as a rock in my chest. I should be dead, drowned, my lifeless body forever forgotten in the bottom of the river. That was the truth and I had to face it sooner or later. I shouldn't be breathing anymore.

The worst part was that I couldn't talk about that with anyone. Can you imagine if I'd come up to Mr. Ledge and say that I slept for hours under water, got out and walked away as if nothing had happened? He would send me straight to an asylum.

I got up, put on some dry clothes and walked out of the room. Mr. Hedge was still on the mythology section, muttering insults under his breath.

"I'll be back in time for supper." I said. He just looked at me and nodded. Outside the sun had set and the streets were beginning to show its usual nocturnal facet—prostitutes, drunks and thieves were always easier to spot at night, when most people were locked inside their homes. A couple of men were having an argument under a street lamp nearby. I tried not to, but I couldn't help but eavesdrop.

"I'm telling you, mate. He simply disappeared from the face of the earth. No one has seen or heard from him, it's as if the ground opened up and swallowed him." One of the men said. The other nodded and replied. "Just another proof that you should never get on the way of Fair. You do it, you're a dead man."

Fair again. He was the man who supposedly ran a big portion of London's criminal activities. No one had ever seen the guy, but no one dared to act as if he wasn't real. The ones who did, ended up vanishing with no explanation.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. I wasn't dead, I should be grateful. But I couldn't just ignore the fact that I spent hours under water without breathing. Or maybe that didn't happen and I was just finally losing my mind. Either way, I should be worried.

A carriage stopped before me and adrenaline pumped through my veins. It was Mr. Turquoise's. I tried to run back to the library but the two guards were already waiting behind me. They lifted me up and threw me on the carriage.

"Hello, Jack. You really thought you could hide from me?"

I caught a glimpse of an evil smile and turquoise robes before being hit hard on the head and falling unconscious, the carriage starting to move.


	2. Another One Bites The Dust

Chapter 2

Another One Bites The Dust

I woke up facing a gray rock wall. My entire body hurt, I took a deep breath and my lungs were filled a fowl stench of putrefaction. I sat up and looked around. I was in a tiny jail cell, iron bars separated me from a corridor filled with other cells on both sides, like a dungeon. The guard saw me awake and laughed, his voice deep and frightening. He was one of the guards who chased me earlier. He came close to the bars and sniffed.

"I like the smell of this one," he said slowly, as if his brain was still trying to figure out the right words to use. "He must be real juicy."

"Who do you think his parent is, Ogmar?" Another voice said. He came closer and stood beside the guard, it was Mr. Turquoise. He analyzed me as if I was something that he could sell, preferably overpriced.

"I never came across this smell before, my lord." The guard turned to his master and for a split second it looked as if he had only one big eye in the middle of his forehead. The sight of it made a shiver go down my spine.

"He is coming within the hour to check on him. He will be able to tell his heritage. Meanwhile, you and Cynel can have the girl, she won't be of any use to me anymore. Have a nice dinner." Mr. Turquoise walked away and the guard laughed, licking his lips.

"We can have the girl!" He screamed, his monstrous voice making the walls of the place shake. The other guard stepped into the room and chuckled. "At last."

These guys were huge. I don't recall them being this big when they were chasing me earlier. They walked to the cell next to mine and opened it, I could listen to a girl fighting against the grip of the guards, her voice filled with a violent urge to cut both of them into little pieces.

"Take your hands off of me, monsters, or I swear I'll chop your balls off and make you eat them!" The guards pulled her out of the cell, grabbing her by her hair. They threw her in front of the bars of my cell, laughing devilishly.

"I like when they put up a fight," Cynel said. "Let's do it here, so the boy can see what's going to happen to him next."

The girl was approximately my age, she had a curvy body and naturally toned muscles, like an idealized Amazon. Full curly blond hair hid her face, she turned around and I caught a glimpse of her features. Her green eyes carried a sparkle of violence, as if she was ready to turn the world into chaos. I saw her face and froze.

"You..." It was the girl I was with earlier that morning, in the carriage, Mr. Turquoise's daughter, Katrina, Jane or Bridget. Our eyes met and guilt seemed to take over her soul.

"They were controlling me, I didn't want to do it, I'm sorry." She said.

I tried to put any sense to what was happening right there. I was abducted not for "corrupting" Mr. Turquoise's daughter, but for some other reason. What could a rich man want with me? I was a nobody, why would I be of any value to him?

The guards tied the girl's hands and feet, but she wasn't giving up.

"You will regret this, meat-head!"

I shook the iron bars that imprisoned me, trying pointlessly to break free, to help the girl. The guards stopped before her and opened their mouths.

"Tasty little demigod."

My heart stopped. The guards face morphed before my eyes, they were the ugliest people I had ever seen in my life, crooked yellow teeth filled their large mouths, I could smell their death breath from the distance, a single eye rested on the middle of their forehead, watching their meal fighting for her life.

"What the… Cyclops?" I muttered, too shocked to do anything else. One of them grabbed the girl's arm and started taking it to his mouth while she screamed in terror, I was about to look away when an arrow cut the air hit the Cynel in the eye. He screamed and stumbled around blind, burning himself on the torches that lighted the prison.

"Who dares to bother us during dinner?" Ogmar said. He turned around but saw no one. "Show yourself!"

A tiny chubby man appeared behind him and stabbed a knife through the Cyclops' heart, he fell to the ground and dissolved into a cloud of golden dust that smelled even worse than his breath.

"Sorry I was late, Brown. But better late than never, ay?"

"Mr. Ledge?"

Before me stood the man who took care of me, holding a long bronze knife in one hand and a wood bow in the other. But that wasn't the surprising part. I looked down and realized he wasn't wearing any pants, I saw a pair of strong and hairy legs with no feet.

"Hooves? Mr. Ledge, can you explain me why…"

"Enough chit-chat, Brown." He said, after the other Cyclops started to try and get up. He freed the girl and gave her the knife he was holding, before reaching for my cell and opening it.

The girl's eyes sparkled when she closed her grip on the knife, an almost maniacal aura surrounding her.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this."

She didn't wait for anyone. Ran toward the monster, jumped and craved the blade into his carotid, before pushing it all the way down, opening a giant cut in the screaming Cyclops, not stopping till he was reduced to a cloud of stinking golden dust.

"Die, you son of a bitch!" She screamed, before turning around, her white robes stained with monstrous blood. "What?" She asked, staring at mine and Mr. Ledge's shocked faces.

"Feisty, that one. They get wilder and wilder every decade." Mr. Ledge said. "Come on, we got to get out of here fast!"

The girl and I started following Mr. Ledge's hairy legs out of that place through a heavy iron door. A spiral stone staircase took us up to a wood door. Mr. Ledge stopped cautiously and tried to listen to steps on the other side.

"Mr. Ledge, I know we agreed to keep off each other's business, but why the fuck are you a goat from the waist down?" I asked.

"I'm a satyr," He said. "Surprise, surprise."

"Cyclops, satyrs," I started. "I guess now is a good time to tell you that I spent the entire day sleeping in the bottom of the river."

Mr. Ledge's eyes widened and he stared at me in awe.

"Tell me you are joking, boy."

"I wish."

"Huh, wait until my brothers hear about that one!" He laughed. "It's clear, let's go!"

He opened the door and we stepped into an enormous kitchen, we were clearly in some sort of palace or mansion. Nothing there seemed to be out of the ordinary, there were no maids or cooks as far as we could see. We stepped into the next room, a spacious living room decorated with all sorts of antiquities and objects of value. A Greek sword was hanging on one of the walls, I jumped and took it. You know, just in case.

"Leaving so soon?" Sounded a voice in the dark.

"Children, get down!" Mr. Ledge shouted, when a green light was shot in our direction. It hit the satyr in the chest and he fell unconscious on the floor.

"If I knew it'd hit the goat, I would've used something more lethal."

Out of the shadows emerged a wigless Mr. Turquoise, an amused smile on his face.

"Ugh, incompetent Cyclopes, couldn't even put an end to the girl."

"They tried." The girl said beside me, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Fair is coming here soon to take a look at you, boy. You might be worth a lot of money to me, so you'll live. For now." Mr Turquoise said looking at me, he turned his face the girl and laughed. "As for you, my dear…"

He waved his cane and various flashes flew toward her. I stepped in and defended them with my sword, they rebounded on the blade and flew all around the room, breaking some pretty expensive items.

"I don't think so." I said.

"You really think you can against me?" He said laughing. "Two children against the most powerful sorcerer in all of Britain? You two don't know what…"

"You're forgetting to count the goat." Behind us, Mr. Ledge stood up from behind a couch and invested against the sorcerer, using his bow as a bat. He tried to swing against him, but Mr. Turquoise made the old satyr fly away with just a gesture of his hand.

I didn't wait, I span my sword and tried to cut his head off. The sorcerer defended the blow with his cane and with is other hand conjured a spell against me. I was surrounded by water all around me, trapped into a glass and iron box, like the ones magicians use to their tricks.

I banged against the glass, trying to break free, but it was useless. The water embraced me peacefully, as if I was just another being from the sea. I tried to break the glass with my sword, while the girl battled the sorcerer. The sounds of their duel barely reached my ears. He immobilized her with magic and threw her away, she hit the wall with violence, crashing on shelves covered in Chinese ceramic.

Mr. Turquoise turned to face me and smiled with satisfaction. He checked his pocket watch and seemed even more pleased. I fought to free myself even harder, but the glass was unbreakable. I needed a lot more strength if I wanted to get out of there. I looked around and had an idea.

I closed my eyes and imagined a whirlpool forming around me, inside the box. I pictured the water moving with violence, the whole power of the nature fighting to break free of confinement. I could feel it. I could feel the power. A crack and the glass around me broke, the water flooding the room. I opened my eyes and held the sword tight. I felt at home. This was what I was born to do.

"Unbelievable." Mr. Turquoise whispered. He charged his cane against me, trying to imprison me with one of his spells again. But I defended his blows, picturing myself as a powerful whirlpool of water, consuming everything around it. I got closer and closer to the sorcerer, one step at a time, until my sword reached his cane and broke it, sending bright, colorful lights all across the room.

"Damn you, hero!" In a last effort, he tried to conjure a spell with his hands, but he had no escape. I pierced his heart with my sword, making him screech in pain before falling lifeless on the floor. The entire room seemed to become brighter, as if it was under a large shadow that was now gone.

I looked around and saw Mr. Ledge semi-awake on the floor, covered in his own blood.

"Jack…" He tried to say. I let go of the sword and ran toward him.

"Mr. Ledge, stay with me! We'll get you to a doctor and…"

"No," He said, his voice flooded with agony. "You must go. You are the only one who matters." He smiled, his teeth covered in blood, tears rolling down his face. "I never thought I'd have the honor… Of protecting… Someone like you."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my heart being squeezed in my chest.

"You must travel west, to Bath. Search for Half-Blood Hill. That's where you belong." He grunted in pain before opening his brown eyes to me one last time. "Take… Take the girl with you. She is like you, she belongs there too."

"Mr. Ledge, stay with me, what are you talking about?" Tears rolled down my face as I held his round face.

"Your father…" He said, his once loud voice almost fading. "You are blood of the gods, Jack Brown." Mr. Ledge smiled and closed his eyes. "Goodbye, my boy."

Right before my eyes, Mr. Ledge's body dissolved in a green cloud of dust carrying the smell of the woods. I got up and wiped the tears off my face.

"What did he mean by that?"

I turned around and saw the girl standing next to me, her white robes now stained with her own blood as well, but still she was standing up, strong as ever, as if getting beaten in battle made her grow even more powerful. "He said I am like you, blood of the gods, what did he mean by that?"

I sighed and shrugged.

"I don't know, at least not for sure. But he used his last energies to tell us that we should travel west, to Bath."

She put the knife on the pocket of her trousers and walked slowly toward me.

"I have nowhere else to go, no family, no friends, no home," She said. "If he says there's a place where we belong, I'll search for it till my last breath."

I looked into her fiery eyes and smiled. Mr. Ledge was right, she was like me.

"I'm Jack Brown." I said.

"Jane Williams." We shook hands and I arched my eyebrows, slightly amused.

"You said they were controlling you when they used you to get to me, do you remember anything?"

She sighed. "No, I remember him casting some sort of spell on me, next thing I know they're putting you in the cell beside me. Why?" Jane asked, having no idea what I was thinking about.

"Oh, for nothing." I said, holding myself not to laugh. "I love the little mark you have on your chest, by the way. It's lovely."

Jane stared at me confused. "What are you talking about…?" She stopped and touched her firm and generous breasts, her face becoming scarlet red.

I smiled and gently punched her arm. "Come on, if we leave now, we can get to Bath by sunrise." I said.

She took a deep breath and followed me out of the room.

"If you hadn't just saved my life, I swear I'd cut off your hand."

We left the mansion and disappeared into the warm London night before anyone could see us.


	3. Princes Of The Universe

Chapter 3

Princes of the Universe

Gladly, I knew my way through London's dark alleys and streets. Now, I've always been a good boy. Well, mostly. But after some time in the streets, you start to learn a thing or two about the city's "alternative" activities. I just happened to know a convoy that left every night to Bath, part of a tea smuggling scheme that, according to the rumor, was run by Fair. They'd use luxurious carriages to avoid suspicion, leave every night, usually before ten, and come back the next day with a brand new supply of tea leaves that would soon be on the shelves of stores all over the city.

Jane and I walked no more than ten blocks to the site where three carriages were already lined up, three men making the final arrangements for that night's trip. We hid behind a nearby corner, a clear line of sight between us and the smugglers.

"We can't get on one of them without being seen. Should we kill them and take the carriages?" Jane said, already reaching for her knife.

"No reason to spill blood for this, you maniac," I said. "It can all be worked out."

"Fine, we'll try your way." She said, putting the knife back in her pocket. "So what do we do?"

"Put your charms on."

"I beg your pardon?" Jane stared at my face, her green eyes about to burst out of her face.

"Distract the men while I take one of the horses."

"Why not take an entire carriage?" She asked, running her fingers through her hair and opening a couple of buttons on her blouse, letting out a dazzling cleavage that almost made me forget what we were talking about.

"I have this way with horses."

"Whatever, just be fast." Jane said, walking toward the men, trying to act as feminine as possible. Imagine a gladiator trying to knit a sweater. That was Jane trying to act seductive. But that shouldn't be a problem, her curves and firm muscles should do the job for her.

"Oh, what nice carriages you have here, I love nice carriages." I heard her saying to one of the smugglers. I had to struggle not to laugh. The other two men quickly forgot about their chores and circled her like vultures around a dead animal.

"You a very pretty lady, if I may say so," One of them said, smelling her hair. "Want to come inside for a drink?"

"Hey, I saw her first, mate!" The other one said. "She'll be all mine."

These weren't guys for a young girl to play with, but I've seen what Jane could do. If anyone was in danger here, trust me, it was them. I got behind the last carriage of the convoy and slowly approached one of the horses, a beautiful black stallion, probably worth a lot of money. Whoever was funding that operation, must've wanted the convoy in Bath and back again fast. These horses were different from any other I'd ever seen. I gently touched the neck of one and smiled.

"I'm going to need your help, chap," I whispered. "My friend and I need to get to Bath by sunrise, you think you can do that for me?"

The stallion looked at me and lowered his head, asking me to stroke his crest.

"Good boy." I carefully untied him from the carriage and mounted him. "Now, go!"

The horse started galloping at full speed, showing off all his strength and magnificence. Jane saw us by the corner of her eye and kicked one of the men in the balls.

"Later, losers!" She said, before extending her arm to me and with my help jumping on the back of the horse. We dashed through the dark streets of the city, the brown and red bricks blurring in the corner of our eyes. The men chased us in a carriage, but our stallion was faster and more agile on his own. We managed to lose them just as we were about to leave the city, twenty minutes later.

Shortly after that, we were galloping through a country road, surrounded by pines and endless woods that seemed almost phantasmagoric in the moonlight. Our stallion was stronger than I thought, he kept his pace until sunrise, when we entered the town of Bath. The region was known by its theaters and musical tradition, as well as by its architectural wonders, like the brand new Royal Crescent, a residential road of thirty houses that had the form of a giant stone crescent.

"I don't see any hills anywhere." Jane said, completely ignoring the wonder before our eyes. "Hey, you!" She shouted rudely at a man that was passing by walking beside us. "Know where Half-Blood Hill is?"

The man was too frightened to answer. Jane sometimes has that effect on people. She grunted, took out her knife and pointed at the man. "Answer me!"

"I don't know! The closest hills are the Cotswolds, south from here!" The man wet his pants and ran away desperate.

"Thank you very much!" Jane screamed at him.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked, guiding the horse south with the reins.

"What?" She asked surprised, putting away the knife. "It's not like I was going to stab him if he didn't know anything."

We crossed part of the town till the beginning of the Cotswolds hills. Soon we were completely alone, not one sign of life nearby. We stopped near a hill covered by pines and immediately a shiver went down my spine like electricity.

"I'm feeling uneasy." Jane said, going for her knife. I did the same with my sword. It was a weird feeling, as if we were being watched.

I told the horse to go look for water and pasture and started going uphill. It was as if we had suddenly entered a different world. The air carried a sense of ancient, as did the trees and branches, as if that whole area dated back way before England was even founded. We reached the top of the hill and I froze. There was something familiar about that place, as if I'd been there before.

"Look!" Jane said, pointing at a wood sign depicting a centaur pointing an arrow to the other side of the hill, an unreadable text under it. "Camp Half-Blood. It's that way!"

"Wait, how could you read…" But before I could finish the sentence, the text on the sign became readable. Actually more readable than anything I'd ever read. I've always had this condition where it becomes unbearable to read sometimes. The letters seem to fly out of the page, making every text seem like a strange language that was impossible to translate. But that text, I could stare at it for hours and still be able to read it.

"It's here. We found it." I said, putting away my sword. Jane and I exchanged looks and started walking. At first, the other side of the hill seemed empty and quiet, completely deserted. I was starting to feel disappointed when we crossed the invisible line of the top of the hill. An entire property became visible between the trunks of the pines, standing like a small town between the green grass and the gray sky.

Below us, close to the hill, there was a huge three story mansion built in yellow bricks with a gray stone ceiling, a dozen of other tiny structures were visible in the distance, forming the shape of a U in the grass. To the left, there was a big lake surrounded by boulders, while, close to the big house, fields of grapevines added some color to place.

"What is this place?" Jane muttered, sounding amazed for the first time.

"Let's go, maybe there's someone living in the big house. We could ask for…" The leaves on the ground bellow us flew in the air when a giant net involved us and lifted us high, imprisoning us meters above the ground.

"Great." Jane said. "Move a muscle and I'll tear you to pieces."

In the confusion, my head had gotten itself between Jane's strong and long thighs, my face inches away from her private parts. "Hey, it's not like I've never been here before." I said.

Jane gasped and squeezed my head between her thighs, making my eyes almost pop out of their sockets. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!"

Jane suddenly loosened her grip and shushed me, all the muscles in her body becoming tense. "Someone's coming."

I focused and heard steps getting closer and closer, I could hear the sound of boots in the mud and iron pieces banging together. The sounds ceased below us, I couldn't see a thing beside Jane's crotch, but she could.

"Why the trap? Do we look like animals to you?" She said, her voice carrying its usual politeness.

"Get them down and tie their hands behind their backs." A male voice said. "I'll go warn Chiron."

I heard the sound of sword slashing through a rope and we fell hard on the floor. A group of four boys and girls of various ages wearing weapons and ancient bronze armors put us on our knees, confiscated Jane's knife and my sword and tied our hands.

"So much for 'belonging' somewhere." Jane said, before they forced us up and led us down the hill. A tall boy ran alongside a man riding a brown horse toward us, urgency dictating their pace. As they got a few meters close, I felt dizzy and confused. The man wasn't riding the horse, he was the horse. Where the animal's neck and head should be, rested a man's torso. His eyes flooded wisdom and his expression was grim behind the wild hair and the thick beard.

"A centaur." I said. He looked at me and analyzed me with his piercing eyes, before turning to the boy beside him.

"When did you say they got here, Gregory?"

"This exact moment." The boy said. I didn't like him the moment I saw him. He was tall and, I guess, handsome with his electric blue eyes and white smile. His long hair was tied in a ponytail and his clothes and armor were spotless white. His right hand reached for his sword and a black mark on his forearm caught my attention—an eagle with its wings opened in mid-flight.

He walked up to me and touched my neck with the side of his sword.

"Speak, invader." He said, so rudely it made Jane seem like a member of the royal court.

"Now, Gregory, no need for such manners." The centaur said. Gregory lowered his sword as the centaur came closer to us. "My name is Chiron and I run this place. You are?"

"Jack Brown."

"Jane Williams."

Chiron nodded and asked. "How did you get here?"

"This half-goat guy told us to search for Hal-Blood Hill in Bath." Jane said.

Chiron arched his eyebrow when he spotted the blood stains on our clothes. "You mean a satyr?"

"Yes," I said. "His name was Mr. Ledge. He found me in the streets four years ago and took care of me ever since. In his last moments he told us about this place, said that it was the only place where we belonged. He also mentioned something like blood of the gods, but I didn't get that."

Chiron sighed and ordered that we be untied. "I'm sad to hear about Ledge's passing. He was one of our most experienced protectors and a personal friend of mine," We got up and he started walking toward the big house. "Come, you must have a lot of questions."

The inside of the house was as luxurious as weird. Strange artifacts like broken horns, claws, spears, animal heads and statues were everywhere, hanging from the gold and light blue walls.

"It's been a while since we got any new campers," Chiron started after we sat on a yellow sofa. "Every day, fewer roots keep the gods grounded in Britain."

"Gods?" Jane asked. "As in plural, more than one god?"

"Yes, gods. As in Greek gods."

"But the gods are only myths." I said. Thunder roared in the distance and all the hair on my body stood up.

"What about satyrs, centaurs? In fact, you are in the presence of a so called mythic centaur this very moment. Do you still think the gods don't exist? That they aren't here, in England, where the flame of the western civilization burns the brightest?" Chiron smiled when neither of us had any valid argument to battle his logic.

"Okay, so gods exist and they are here. Good for them. But what does it have to do with us?" I asked.

"Everything, my boy." Chiron said. "Let me tell you a story. A child is born, one of the parents leaves, the remaining one doesn't know how to handle this child, because he or she is different, he feels different. Deep inside, he knows that he doesn't belong there, in the middle of all those people. And life is hard on him, but no matter how bad it gets, he can handle it. Because he knows, in his very heart, that he is meant for something big. That in him is the strength to battle any enemy, to overcome any obstacle," He smiled at our astonished faces. "Now you tell me, does that sound familiar?"

I swallowed dry and stared at my hands, my eyes following my life line while I remembered all the hard times I had, all the nights that I spent alone, praying, hoping there was something out there for me. Somewhere I belonged.

Next to me in the couch, Jane had the same expression. Somehow, that centaur in front of us had just described us our entire lives, the deepest feelings in our souls.

"Blood of the gods," Chiron said. "Demigods. Half human, half god. Natural born heroes. That's what you are, that's why you're here," He smiled. "Ledge was right, this is where you belong. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, young ones. Welcome home."

I let the centaur's words sink in a for a moment.

"Chiron," I said, my heart beating fast in my chest. "You say we are children of the gods. Do you know who our parents are?"

He nodded and pointed at our forearms. "Neither of you have been claimed yet. Trust me, you will know when it happens. And don't worry, most demigods are claimed."

"Most?" Jane asked.

"No one said that everything the gods did was right," Chiron gestured towards the door. "Now go. Gregory will show you around."

We stepped out of the house and Chiron ordered Gregory to give us a tour of the camp. He looked distastefully at us and nodded. "Come."

We started walking toward the dozen two story cabins. Each had its own style and color, but all of them seemed unmistakably English, with their brick covered façades and long rectangular windows. But even so, they were different from any other constructions I had ever seen.

"There are twelve cabins, one for each Olympian god. When you are claimed, you will know in which cabin you belong. Till then, you will stay at Cabin Eleven, the Hermes Cabin. That's where we put all the undetermined." Gregory explained.

I looked at the eagle on his forearm and asked. "What cabin are you in?"

"Cabin One, I'm a son of Zeus," he said, stuffing his chest. "King of the gods."

Great. Even Camp Half-Blood had nobles. Did I mention I was starting to like Gregory even less?

We were circling the cabins when we passed by one made with bright red bricks, the color of blood. Its façade was marked by bullet holes and scratches, the windows had iron bars on it and a lovely boar head hanged above the door, its red eyes staring directly at mine. You could hear screams and curses coming from the inside, as well as a constant sound of things breaking.

The door blew open and a corpulent boy kicked another equally big, but younger boy out of the cabin. The boy landed on the mud laughing, as if that was the most fun thing in the world. He and the older boy started wrestling, while at least a dozen other boys and girls wreaked havoc inside.

A scarlet red light hit my face, I looked to my side and realized it was coming from Jane. She was glowing in a blood colored aura, a red helmet and spear hovering over her head. The cabin quieted down and everyone came out to watch.

"What the hell is happening to me?" Jane shouted. Her eyes widened and she raised her right forearm, the same helmet and spear that hovered above her was now marked in black ink on her skin.

"You've just been claimed." Gregory said, smiling. "Daughter of Ares, the god of war. This is your cabin right here, #5."

The dozen other sons and daughters of Ares cheered and shouted in excitement. They quickly circled us and dragged Jane into their cabin, shutting the heavy iron door before I could even say goodbye to her.

"Nice crowd." I said to Gregory.

"A little too loud and barbaric, but the best warriors we have," He said. "Come, I'll take you to Cabin Eleven. You'll be taken care of there."

A couple of cabins later, we were in front of the Hermes Cabin. It looked like a normal middle class house, with the bricks painted white and beige and, somehow, it was even more crowded than Ares', however definitely happier. At least a couple dozen kids were in there, some seating on the windows, with one leg hanging out, reading or just talking to some other kid inside. In fact, you could hear laughs and excited conversations all around it. Just standing there already made me feel welcome, as if I knew that was a place that would accommodate me whenever I needed.

Gregory patted my back and walked away. "Go inside, look for Lenny, he's the head of the cabin, he'll get you settled." The son of Zeus disappeared before I could ask any other question.

"Fuck, I really don't like that guy." I said to myself, before taking a deep breath and walking into the Hermes Cabin.


	4. With a Little Help From My Friends

Chapter 4

With a Little Help From My Friends

I walked into Cabin Eleven and was completely ignored. One person more, one person less, I guess it didn't make any difference. The inside was all made of white stone and wood, bunk beds were everywhere, scrambled in a big mess between mattresses on the floor and personal belongings. It was hard to find a place on the floor to step in, I took off my boots and walked from mattress to mattress, occasionally having to pass between a top and bottom bunk bed.

A group of four guys my age were sitting on the floor, playing card games, gambling things from hygiene supplies to weapons and golden coins. I approached them. "You guys seen Lenny?" I asked. One of the guys chuckled while he shuffled cards, he had a mischievous touch to his features, with his thin eyebrows, long nose and playful smile.

"Regular or undetermined?" He asked, sizing me up.

"According to prince boy son of Zeus, undetermined." I said.

The four boys laughed and the one who asked me finally looked at me as if I was actually there. "I suppose you met his majesty Prince Gregory. That's how we call him behind his back," He stood up and we shook hands. "I'm Lenny, head of the Hermes Cabin. I suppose he told you to find me, huh?"

"Yeah, he did. I'm Jack Brown."

"Welcome to Cabin Eleven, Big Jack," Lenny said. "There's not much to learn, look out for your things, sleep with one eye open and don't take anything we do too seriously."

"Where's he going to sleep, there's no place here, unless you want to share your bed with him, Lenny." One of the other guys said.

"True, true." Lenny said, stroking his copper beard. "The gals sleep upstairs, suppose we could ask them to make room for him."

The other three guys at the game laughed and one of them said. "Lucky bastard."

"Come on." Lenny guided me upstairs, at least six people were hanging out sitting at the stairs. At Cabin Eleven you must always look before you step, if you don't want to crush someone else's hand or foot.

The second floor of the cabin was just as crowded, but much more organized. Even though, that's not saying much. The bunks and the mattresses were lined up in a way to actually permit passage, but dresses and other lady garments were thrown all over the place. There was a sweet smell of perfume in the air and, let's just say, that the view was beautiful.

"Penny!" Lenny shouted. A girl about a head shorter than me came out from behind one the bunks. She had long, curly hair the same tone of copper as Lenny's beard. She wore boy clothes—pants and a shirt, but it fitted her better than any dress. She was thin with dark green eyes and a long nose, that added to her charm. I swear I was still to see one girl in that whole camp that was anything but beautiful.

"Yes, brother?" She asked.

"Newcomer. We have no room downstairs. Think you girls could look after him?" Lenny asked.

Penny turned to me with a smile, arched an eyebrow and her dark green eyes turned playful. "Oh, we'd love to." She said, biting her lower lip.

"Have fun." Lenny said, patting me on the back. "Oh, lunch is at 12, dinner at 7:30. Between that, go look for something to do." He said, already going down the stairs.

"Hi." Penny said smiling, as I turned back to her. "You got a name?"

"Jack Brown." I said, returning the smile.

"Girls!" She shouted to everyone. "Little Jack here will be sharing the room with us. I'm sure we will be very, very nice and take good care of him, no?" The sixteen girls in the room giggled and hummed, there was a smile everywhere I looked.

I was starting to like Camp Half-Blood.

I didn't do much on my first morning at camp. Penny briefed me on the many activities available and showed me other parts of the property—the arena, mess hall, the lake etc. Penny was really gorgeous, by the way. And she seemed to be interested in me, so I wouldn't be surprised if she asked me to share a bed with her cause there's no room in the cabin for me to sleep. But I wouldn't worry about that till later.

I saw Jane again when the Cabin Eleven girls and I were walking to the mess hall for lunch. She seemed to be getting along well with her new siblings, they lent her fresh clothes—a blood red shirt, leather pants and brown combat boots. She now looked unmistakably like a daughter of Ares, except for the fact that she was way prettier than all of her sisters.

"Hello, Jack." She said, coming toward me. "Been claimed yet?"

"No," I said. "But the Hermes Cabin seems cool."

A few meters ahead, Penny and the other girls shouted at me, telling me to hurry up if I didn't want to eat standing up.

"What do you say about sword fighting this afternoon?" She asked.

"Sounds great." I smiled and ran to catch up with the girls. The Hermes table was the longest and, of course, the most crowded of all twelve in the mess hall. The pavilion had no ceiling and was surrounded by white Greek pillars. I got to our wooden table, but it was already full, four kids sat on the ground looking sadly at their plates. I was ready to join them when I heard Penny calling my name, her hand up high in the middle of the girls at the table.

"Here, I saved you a spot." She got up and I sat on the table.

"And where are you sitting?"

Penny smiled at me, passed a leg over me and sat on my lap, taking all my breath away instantly.

"Warm." She slowly moved her hips and I forgot where I was, what was my name and that Greek gods apparently existed.

The lunch in itself was great, we ate whatever we wanted after offering the best bits of food to the gods in a big flaming fire in the middle of the pavilion. You know, everyday stuff. I wasn't used to having so much food in front of me, but it was hard to focus on my stomach when Penny was sitting on top of me, her full curly hair a bare inch away from my face, filling my lungs with her sweet, girly smell.

After lunch, as I was following the Hermes crowd out of the mess hall, I heard someone calling my name. I turned around and it was his majesty, Prince Gregory himself.

"I'll catch up with you." I told Penny and went to meet his highness. Gregory saw me coming and gestured for me to follow him. We went up the steps and out of the mess hall, stopping at the border of the woods.

"Son of Zeus." I said, trying my best to tone down the mockery. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing." He shrugged. "Just wanted to say welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

Before I could react, a black bag was put around my face and I felt a huge tingling feeling at the back of my head, like electricity, making me black out instantly.

I woke up dizzy and confused. There was a huge pressure against my torso and legs. When my eyesight cleared, I saw that I was in the woods, tied down around a thick tree trunk.

"He's waking up." I heard a voice whispering. I looked around and saw four guys approaching, three of them were tall and blond and, whoever they were, I was almost sure they spent more time doing their hair in the morning than all of their sisters.

"Afternoon, ladies." I said, still feeling a little groggy. The fourth guy grabbed my face and forced me to stare into his electric blue eyes. "And God save the queen." I completed.

Gregory twisted his face in an evil smile and whispered. "Welcome to camp."

He took a punch at my stomach, making me bite my tongue. All the meat I had for lunch crawled back up my throat.

"Lovely." I mumbled, blood filling my mouth.

Gregory and his pals laughed. Apparently I was more hilarious than I thought.

"Can you believe Chiron thought _this_ right here could be one of the big three?" He said. I had no idea what he was talking about back then, but I was already tied down and choking on my own blood, so of course the only thing I had left to do was annoy the hell out of him.

"Feeling threatened, huh, Greg? Think someone might come and steal the throne from you? Like father, like son, I guess."

Gregory's smile faded and he wrapped his hand around my neck. I felt as if thousands of ants were biting my neck, the pain slowly growing stronger and stronger. "You have no right to talk here, undetermined. Little bastard, your father is probably too ashamed to claim you."

The electricity on my neck started to become more and more intense, my eyes rolled back and I lost all senses. I felt as if I was floating in a big black void, but I was still conscious. I don't know why, but I was still there, an inch away from unconsciousness.

A sudden flash of light and I was back. Gregory and his friends laughing, the smell of the woods surrounding me and a strong burning sensation around my neck.

"Well, I guess we've been at this for too long." Gregory said. "I have archery class at two and I don't want to miss it," Before walking away, he turned around and smiled. "Have fun, Jack."

Seconds later I was completely alone in the woods. My heavy breathing becoming just another instrument in the orchestra of the forest, soon to become an eternal part of it if I didn't figure out a way to untie myself from that tree. I thought about screaming for help, but my throat hurt badly. I closed my eyes and waited for the hours to come, trying not to lose my control, my dignity. Gregory and his pals would get the plate of cold payback that they deserved sooner or later. And I'd make sure that I was their waiter.

I heard leafs being crumbled and I immediately opened my eyes, my mind completely alert, looking for signs of danger. I looked around and saw nothing but trees and branches. I swallowed dry painfully and looked down, my feet were completely numb because of the tight rope around my legs.

Another sound of steps and I looked up. There was no one around, but something seemed odd. I could swear that one of the trees had moved a couple of meters to the left. I blinked and the tree was completely gone.

"Hi." A young girl's voice said.

I looked down and saw a short teenage girl looking up to me with big brown eyes the color of wood. Her skins had a green tonality to it, but not nearly as green as her hair and lips, those were the color of nature.

"You are not human, are you?" It was the only thing I thought of saying.

The plant-girl crossed her arms and arched a green eyebrow.

"You speak as if you were _all _human, demigod." She said. "You need to realize that we, the nymphs, were living in this world long before you humans started taking over everything. In our world, you are the strangers."

"Okay, I'm sorry," I said, rolling my eyes. "Could you give me a hand here? Unless you want me in your woods for all eternity."

The girl hummed and stroked her chin.

"You know how to bargain, demigod. Plus, it's not like I wouldn't help you in the first place. You're not the first I found like this," She said. "Every time a new camper arrives, the son of Zeus and his companions do this to them. Odd custom, I'd say. But what do I know about demigods? Especially boys."

"Good to know," I tried to laugh. "At least his majesty didn't have anything personal against me, besides the fact that he thinks I might be one of the big three, whatever that is."

The nymph narrowed her eyes, came up to me and sniffed my clothes.

"Now that you said it, you kind of smell like fish." She said, twisting her face.

"Hey, I haven't had time to shower since this whole mythological dream started."

"I'm not talking about that, demigod!" She rolled her eyes just like I did before. "I'm talking about your blood. It does have a scent of ocean. That would explain why your friend fought so hard to find you."

"My friend? What are you talking about?"

"Over there," She pointed to my right and there he was, the black stallion me and Jane stole to come to Bath. But there was something different about him, a strange protuberance on his sides. He reached to scratch his ear and I realized they were a couple of huge black wings, each bigger than me. "He said his master, Jack, crossed over the hill and never came back to look for him."

"That can't be my horse. I don't think I'd let a couple of wings go by unnoticed." I said.

The nymph whistled and the horse came trotting toward us, he neighed happily when he saw me, flapping his wings while getting on his back legs.

"He says you are Jack," The nymph said. "And he isn't just a horse, he's a Pegasus. Seriously, your human half blinds you, demigod."

"You mean he flies?" I asked, trying to remain sane. "Like birds?"

"_Oh, better and faster than birds, actually." _I heard a voice saying. I looked around, there was no one, I stared at the nymph and she pointed at the black Pegasus. I looked hopelessly at the animal.

"Please, tell me I'm not insane. Are you actually talking?"

"_Master Jack can finally hear me! My name is Ace of Spades, at your service."_

Ace trotted in circles and bowed his head to me, I smiled and tried to convince myself that I wasn't hallucinating.

"Okay, nymph, Ace," I said, stopping to swallow dry. "Can you help me get out?"

"I have a name, you know, Jack." The nymph said. "Nice of you to ask."

"Okay, what's your name, my love?"

"Juniper!" She said, smiling and dancing. "And I'd love to help, but I can't. I have no nails, no strong teeth, I can't cut you lose."

I rolled my eyes.

"And you tell me that now?"

"Sorry." Juniper shrugged. "But I can go look for someone to help you, that was how I helped the others that I found like this."

"Okay," I tried to think about who to call and I could only think about one person. "Look for the Ares crowd, there's a new girl with them called Jane. Bring no one but her."

"_Miss Jane! She is lovely, a bit rude, but lovely!" _Ace said.

"It's true," I told my Pegasus. "But never say that to her or things will get bloody."

"Isn't there anyone else?" Juniper asked, not hiding her disapproval. "The children of Ares are often too loud and have no respect for nature whatsoever."

"There isn't anyone else I can trust."

Juniper bit her green lip and rolled her wood eyes. "Fine, I'll go get her! Ace, you stay here with him, in case one of those mean boys return."

Ace neighed and she ran off. Surprisingly fast for a tree, I might add.

I spent something like thirty minutes listening to Ace talk about the different types of grass he's eaten and the best weather conditions to fly, when I saw Juniper running back, Jane trying to follow her pace, but I guess it wasn't easy to run with a full armor and weapon.

"Fuck, that tree can run," She said when they arrived. "What happened to you, Jack? Who did this?"

"Prince Gregory and the gang." I said, while she sliced the ropes with her blade. My knees weakened and I fell to the ground because my limbs were totally numb and almost purple.

"You have to rest a little." Juniper said. "Here" She touched the ground with one hand and reached for my lips with the other. I waited while her fingers penetrated the ground like roots and fresh, clean water started pouring in my mouth, going down my throat relieving all the pain, removing all the numbness. A few sips and I stood up on my feet, feeling not only good as new, but better than ever.

"Woah, that's some good water." I said.

"It's normal water from the ground, it has no healing powers." Juniper said. Her eyes widened and she smiled. "Oh gods, the son of Zeus is finally getting what he deserves, isn't it?"

"What the fuck do you mean?" Jane asked, with her usual kindness.

"It's not my right to say," She said. "You will know when it's time, I guess. Bye, demigods."

Juniper stepped back and turned into a tree right there in front of us.

"I guess keeping secrets is easier when you can just turn into a tree and shut your mouth," Jane said. "Oh, look, our horse is a Pegasus."

I turned to her. "You're not surprised?"

"I was in the stables earlier this morning, they have almost a dozen like him here." She said.

Ace neighed and flapped his wings.

"_Any female? I haven't seen a mare I could mate in a long time."_

"Chill out, lover boy." I told Ace.

"I saw you already made some friends of your own at Cabin Eleven, by the way" She said, trying to laugh. "What's her name, Miss Cheap Slut?"

"Is this an Ares thing, not liking anyone, or are you just jealous?" I asked, gently punching her arm. She grunted and returned the favor. Except that I never thought a girl could punch that hard. I took a deep breath and tried to pretend it didn't hurt, but I guess I wasn't that successful.

"Let's go to Cabin Five, I can gather my siblings and we can beat the shit out of whoever did this to you." Jane said, her green eyes gleaming with fire.

"No, we'll do this the right way," I said. "That son of Zeus needs to be taught a lesson he'll never forget."

"Ugh, why do you always have to take the fun out of everything?" Jane grunted.

We hopped on Ace and trotted out of the woods. Going toward the stables, I saw the Cabins Valley behind the pines. I wish I could say I wanted to do it for justice, to defend the weak, to fight tyranny. But it wasn't like that, it was simply personal. I didn't know why, but a deep sense of rivalry burned in my veins. We were like two opposite forces, born to clash. And I knew that he felt the same way. I could see it in his eyes, feel it in his shocks. He wanted it as bad as I did. Well, then.

Son of Zeus, get ready for the fight of your life.


	5. I Am The Walrus

Chapter 5

I Am The Walrus

We reached the stables and Ace neighed in frustration. "_Oh, I hate those."_

Jane and I hopped down and I guided Ace into the small wood construction holding him by the reins. The stables were the size of the first floor of the Hermes Cabin, except narrower and longer. And with horse crap all over the floor, of course. Cabin Eleven was a messy place, but not that much.

"I think this is actually cleaner than the boys' closet at Cabin Five." Jane said, looking at the crap filled floor.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine here. You can make some new friends, maybe find a girl and fall in love." I told Ace, patting him on the neck.

"_Oh, I won't have to wait for that!" _I turned to the other side of the stables and there she was. Well, they were. Long brown hair, a perfect curvy body with a thin waist, highlighted by a black and pink corset and a matching Greek battle skirt. She petted a stunning bright white Pegasus that looked like a living marble sculpture. She heard Ace neighing to her mare and her big brown eyes locked on mine. Suddenly, Gregory's lightning attacks seemed like a small chill on the back of my spine. She had a big smile with shiny white teeth and everything about her seemed to glow in pure beauty.

I had no doubt that I was looking at the most beautiful girl in the world.

"Your boots are sinking in horse shit." She said in a perfect feminine voice, her face twisting into an amazing and large smile.

Wait. What did she say?

"Oh, crap!" I said, when I realized my boots were dirty with manure all the way up my ankle.

"Yeah, that's what they call it." She said, laughing. Behind me, Jane grunted and rolled her eyes.

"That's a beautiful…"

I wanted to say face, smile, pair of breasts, waist, pair of legs. But all I said was…

"Pegasus. That's a beautiful Pegasus you have there. What's her name?"

The girl narrowed her eyes as the mare neighed to me.

"_Cherry Bomb, rider. Most people can't distinguish a mare from a stallion. I like you."_

Ace neighed even louder and opened his wings.

"_Ace of Spades, mademoiselle. At your service." _

"You are at the service of everyone, Ace. Zip it." I told him. "Cherry Bomb, that's a beautiful name," I said. "But I bet it's not as beautiful as yours." I got closer to her with my crap covered boots.

"Boys." Jane grunted behind me. Again.

The girl smiled and shrugged.

"Mary Clarke-Beckett." She said. "That's my name. But you can call me just Mary."

"Jack Brown." I replied. "That's my name. But you can call me just Jack."

Mary passed her fingers through her this straight hair and I saw a rose mark on her forearm.

"You're the daughter of the flower god or something?" I asked.

She stared at her birthmark and smiled before piercing me with her hazel eyes.

"Daughter of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, actually." She said. "But good guess, 'just Jack'."

"Goddess of love?" I said, stroking my thin beard. "No surprise on that."

"Gods!" Jane exploded behind me. "Where did you learn to pick up girls, at a whorehouse?"

"This is Jane, by the way. Daughter of Ares." I told Mary. "Always a charmer."

Mary smiled and went down on one knee holding the bars of her battle skirt, like a thoroughly educated lady would. "It's a delight, Jane of Ares."

Jane snorted something from deep inside her throat and spitted on the ground.

"I don't like you."

She then stared at Mary and exited the stables.

"_She's rude like a boar, but I still like Miss Jane." _Ace said.

"_Is this the type of people you serve, stallion?" _Cherry Bomb asked, her voice filled with disapproval. Ace neighed high.

"_What? That girl? I never saw her before in my life!"_

"See you and your friend around, Jack." Mary said, hopping onto Cherry. "Unless you want to go for a ride with us."

"_Yes, yes, oh gods, yes!" _Ace shouted excited, getting on his hind legs.

"_Oh gods, no." _Cherry would've rolled her eyes if she could.

I stared at Ace and swallowed dry. "I never rode a Pegasus before," I said. "Well, that's a lie, I did. But I never, you know…"

Mary laughed and stuck her bright red tongue out, making my heart race with excitement.

"Don't worry, Cherry and I are very experienced. We can take care of you if anything happens."

"_Don't count on me for that, honey." _Cherry said.

I shrugged and hopped on Ace.

"You got this, mate?"

"_Better hold tight, Master Jack."_

We trotted out of the stables and waited for Mary and Cherry. The daughter of Aphrodite looked back and smiled at me one last time before her mare started trotting in full speed. Ace followed the girls, the power of his muscles increasing every meter, forcing me to hold tight around his neck so I wouldn't fall behind. A quick surge of pressure made me feel like I weighed 400 kilos. Ace started flapping his majestic black wings and I closed my eyes, feeling my stomach shrink into the size of a grape.

When I gathered the courage to open my eyes, I saw Cabin Eleven. The size of a button, a hundred meters below Ace and I. The wind shifted as Mary took Cherry over us, flipping upside down before leveling again on our right.

"Just feel his wings, make his strength your own." She screamed.

I held the reins tight around my fists and slowly closed my eyes, hearing the sound of Ace's wings, the vibration of his muscles, the power of his flight. Suddenly everything became natural. Being close to the clouds, the wind on my face, the speed of a soaring hawk at my control.

"_It's great to finally have you up here with me, Master Jack." _Ace said.

I took a deep breath and smiled, letting my mind become one with his.

"Let's teach the girls how to fly, my friend."

Ace neighed and closed his wings, diving in full speed. I kept my eyes open, accompanying him on our flight, bonding with my Pegasus, starting to discover what flying was all about. Now, I thought, as Ace flapped his wings, catching a wind current that took us high in the sky. A cold white breeze and suddenly we were above the gray clouds, an endless field of sky at our feet.

Like a bullet, Mary appeared beside us riding her Cherry Bomb.

"You're a natural!" She screamed. "But can you do this?"

Mary lowered her back behind Cherry's torso and they galloped away into nothingness, searching for the right wind. Cherry closed her wings and they shot across the sky like a bullet, faster than anything I'd ever seen. I tried to look for them, but they were gone. There was no sign of them anywhere in the sky.

"Boo!"

My heart raced as the girls emerged beside us, Mary's childish laugh filling the bright sky with beauty. Everything felt so different up there, nothing like the cold, gray reality down below. It felt as if the impossible was possible. I stared at Mary and we smiled at each other, her hazel eyes filling my entire universe. My heart became warm as I tried to guess how soft her skin was, how fulfilling would be to have her against me, the thought of it making me feel like I'd never had before that moment—as if somehow I could feel complete, safe, in peace with myself and the world.

"Time to go back to real life!" Mary said, turning Cherry to the left, going back to the camp. Ace and I followed her and in a matter of seconds we were landing near the stables and hopping down from our Pegasi. My heart beat strong against my chest when I felt the ground beneath me again. I looked at Mary's perfect body and face and my heart almost exploded.

"I never met any girl like you." I said without thinking.

For a split second I thought she'd smile, but then her face turned dark.

"Jack, you seem like a great guy, but there's something you must know…" Before she could finish, I felt a tingling feeling on my ankles. My knees failed me and I fell on the grass, not feeling my legs.

"What the hell are you doing, undetermined?" I heard a voice scream behind me. A hand grabbed my hair and I felt as if my scalp was being pierced by a thousand needles. "Didn't you get our welcome message?"

"Gregory, don't! Please, I was just riding Cherry!" Mary pleaded, but his majesty ignored her.

"I think I'm going to have to be harder on you." The son of Zeus grabbed my jacket and started pulling me through the mud, while my entire body fell numb, incapacitating me to fight back.

I saw that dozens of people were surrounding us, watching in silence as Gregory dragged me through across the camp. The fear on their faces was impossible to hide—the fear of being next. He let go of me when we reached the shore of the lake. He looked down at me and kicked me in the stomach, making me spit blood on the mud.

"May this be a warning to anyone who tries to make a move on my girlfriend!" Gregory shouted.

Never a word had hurt so much in my life. Gregory's shocks and blows were nothing compared to those two syllables. I looked at Mary and there was a mix of sadness and rage on her face. Gregory kneeled beside me and pulled my hair.

"If you even look at her again, you scum, I can guarantee you, I will finish you." He whispered in my ear, before lifting me up and throwing me into the lake. The water embraced my numb limbs with love. I couldn't swim back up, but it supported me, healed me and reinvigorated me. I closed my fists and opened my eyes, feeling the rage of a sea storm taking over me. My feet found the bottom of the lake and I stood up, my torso emerging from the water completely dry, my muscles stronger than ever.

"Hey, Prince Bastard!" I shouted, turning to face him. "Where do you think you're going?"

For a second I saw fear in Gregory's electric blue eyes. That made my blood burn even hotter as I stepped out of the water. He blinked and pulled his sword, pointing it at the sky. Lighting flashed down and reached his blade, filling it with the power of the king of the gods, making it shine bright and threatening in the prince's hand.

I looked around, there was nothing I could use against him. He stepped forward and charged against me. I had no time to think. As I reacted to defend myself, the water of the lake shot in the air and stood between me and Gregory's lightning blade. He fell backwards, the fear on his face now perfectly clear. He screamed and tried again. This time my arms whipped open and the lake around me exploded, all the immense body of water running toward Gregory, running him down, sinking him under all its might. The water retreated and the son of Zeus searched for his blade. It was right before him, but as he tried to reach it, the water dragged it toward me.

I picked his silver blade, swung it in the air and stopped it a millimeter before his neck, putting him under my mercy. His face froze in shock under a bright green light. The entire camp around us gasped and then fell into silence. I noticed the green glow around me. I looked up and saw a bright green trident hovering over my head, like a warning, a beacon of evidence.

I raised my sleeve and there it was. A black trident marked on my right forearm, my birthmark, my proof of heritance. All around me people started kneeling down on the ground in respect.

"Poseidon," said Mary, kneeling close to me, along with the almost a hundred voices around us. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses."

"Hail, Jack Brown," She said, looking up to me and smiling. "Son of the Sea God."


	6. Smoke On The Water

Chapter 6

Smoke On The Water

I was brought straight to Chiron, accompanied by Jane, Gregory and Mary. We found the centaur on the top of a hill all the way across the grapevine fields, with a clear view to the lake, where everything had just happened. He heard us coming and turned around, his face looking concerned, but not at all surprised.

"The gods are creatures of habit," He started, coming toward me. "Their history is nothing but an eternal repetition of patterns. It's always the same. Do you understand what the mark on your forearm means, Jack? What it means to us, to this moment in history?"

I shrugged and remained silent. I knew Poseidon was one of the big three gods, Zeus's brother and eternal rival and all of that. And, guessing by what I'd seen in Camp Half-Blood, a child of the big three wasn't something as common as the others.

"It is no coincidence that you appeared here exactly now, Jack," He started. "What you are all about to hear, no other camper has knowledge of yet, so I expect all four of you to keep this information between ourselves."

Chiron paused and crossed his arms.

"The gods are leaving Britain."

Mary and Gregory reacted with shock while Jane and I were left to wonder why it was a big deal.

"Chiron, that can't be true," Gregory started. "The gods have been here for centuries, England is the greatest source of power in the west and it'll get even bigger. Where would Olympus go? Back to France? No, that's impossible."

"You are not looking at the big picture, Gregory. The gods don't move when the flame is shining brightest in another land, they move when the first sparkles start the fire. It's Olympus' presence that catapults a nation's rise to the top. The gods are moving and there's nothing you or I can do about it."

Gregory took a deep breath and said nothing. Looking at him, I thought that if my dad was the king of gods and he was the first to know about something this big and he didn't tell me, I'd be pretty mad with him. But then again, my father, the sea god, never even said hello to me, so I guess I know the feeling.

"Where are they going?" Mary asked.

"I don't know for sure, but I have one guess," Chiron said. "There have been rumors of demigods being born across the sea, they are the ones leading the Thirteen Colonies toward independence. You might know them as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and others. If their godly inheritance is true, then there is no doubt, Olympus is preparing to cross the Atlantic and settle in America."

A chill went down my spine when I remembered that my mother abandoned me to sail to America with a rich colonist. Now my dad was about to do the same. I closed my fists with anger and tried not to let the frustration take over me.

"And what does that have to do with me?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Chiron sighed and turned to me.

"Moving the flame of the west to a different land is not an easy task, Jack. It demands the gods' full attention for years before everything is ready. Right now, Olympus is at its most vulnerable position in centuries. And there are a number of forces waiting patiently in the shadows for a chance to take down the gods out of their thrones," He came closer and touched my shoulder, staring at me with his ancient eyes. "It's no coincidence that we happen to have a son of Zeus and a son of Poseidon at similar ages here at camp right now. The gods are taking precautions. They fear an attack is coming, a threat greater than any they faced in the last millennia."

"Wait a second," I said. "The gods expect us to just pick up swords and do their dirty work for them while they pack up everything to leave us for good?"

"This is not about son and father relationships, Jack. The fall of Olympus means the end of western society, of civilization as we know it. We'd be thrown into something a lot worse than the dark ages without the power to get back up. The fate of millions of people from dozens of different cultures and nations lie on you, on this generation of demigods. It is your role as the son of the sea god, to help us preserve Olympus."

I was about to refuse the job when Gregory chuckled beside me. I looked at him all wet with that pretentious smirk on his face and my blood boiled. I was about to attack him right there.

"Don't worry, Jack, you won't have to do any effort. As the son of Zeus and one of the oldest campers, it's my duty to lead the team that will protect Olympus. Everyone here respects me and my leadership. That is something that would take you years to achieve."

This time I chuckled on his face.

"Respect you leadership? The only reason why anyone here respects you is because you have an important dad and because you would fry their asses if they ever did otherwise. Ruling by fear isn't leading, Prince Charming. It's oppressing."

The smile on his face faded and he turned to me.

"You're telling me you could do better? You know nothing about this camp, about what it is to be a demigod. You might be a son of Poseidon, but you wouldn't survive half the things I've been through."

I got one step closer to him.

"Well, I bet I'd survive you."

We were about to jump on each other when Mary got between us, her cherry scent easing my soul almost instantly.

"You two stop! This isn't the place or the time!"

Jane, who had been silent till then, grunted and pushed Mary away.

"Go brush your hair, milady, and let these two solve their differences the honorable way."

"Enough!" Chiron's voice echoed through the valley, making us freeze almost instantly. "In order to achieve victory we will need both of you, not just one," He stopped and stroked his thick beard. "Although it would be interesting to see how your leaderships would do against one another."

Gregory smiled at the sound of Chiron's words, I guess he knew what was about to come.

"We play Capture the Flag this Friday. I'm putting you, Gregory, in charge of the blue team, while you, Jack, will lead the red squad. You have till Friday night to recruit four cabins to your team and may the best leader win," He turned on his hooves and started trotting downhill. "And may that help you two solve your problems the honorable way."

The centaur smiled and nodded at Jane before speeding away, leaving the four of us alone at the top of the hill.

"See you Friday, Jack." Gregory said, walking away. "Mary, come."

The daughter of Aphrodite stopped before me and smiled.

"It was fun flying with you and Ace, we should do it more often."

I sighed and stared at her.

"How can you even be with a guy like that?"

The smile on her face faded and she broke eye contact.

"It's a long story. Maybe someday…"

"Mary!"

She looked into my eyes and walked away, going downhill holding Gregory's hand. Rage went up my throat but I managed to stay calm.

"I want to kick his ass really hard on Friday." Said Jane, reminding me that I'd have to act fast if I wanted my team to have any chance of defeating Gregory's on the day after tomorrow's game.

"Jane, you're going to introduce me to the head of the Ares Cabin."

"Eric? Why?"

"Just do it. Now."

We ran downhill and went straight to Cabin Five. May the negotiations begin.

We walked till Cabin Five, but Eric wasn't there. We then proceeded to the second most likely place to find a son of Ares in Camp Half-Blood—The swordfight arena. Eric was a big guy. In all directions. He wore a bronze armor over a worn out red shirt, his head was shaved and I'm pretty sure he was missing two or three teeth.

"Hey, Jane!" He said when he saw us coming in. "And the son of Poseidon. I'd love to fight with you. See what you got." Eric shook my hand and I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't a demigod I would've broken a couple of fingers right there. "I hope you're not here to make us be gentler with Jane, Jack. All Ares kids go through the same initiation, no exceptions."

"It's not that! I can take it even more, bring it on!" Jane shouted instantly. "Actually," She recomposed herself. "Jack's here with a proposition."

Jane explained to her older brother about Friday's game of Capture the Flag.

"Poseidon vs. Zeus? That will certainly be fun." He said, stroking his chin. "But I have to think before making a decision. I don't like Gregory more than you do, but just that won't cut it. The Ares Cabin is the most victorious of all cabins when it comes to this game. Having us on your side is already a half-victory. I'm going to need…" He smirked. "Numbers."

I scratched my head and hoped that Gregory wouldn't bust in there any second and take Cabin Five with him. I had just arrived, I had no idea how to bargain favors and camp privileges. I didn't know yet what I'd have as the head of the Poseidon Cabin.

When I opened my mouth to say anything slightly useful, Lenny and Penny from Cabin Eleven busted inside the arena.

"Heard the news about Capture the Flag. Team Zeus vs. Team Poseidon. You don't have to say anything, we're on your side, mate." He said, shaking hands with me. "I think we might finally have a chance to give his majesty a run for his money."

Penny slowly walked toward me and wrapped her arms around my waist.

"You know, it's going to be really lonely sleeping in Cabin Three all by yourself. Won't you miss the warmth of Cabin Eleven?" Her nails ran down my back, making every single hair in my body stand up.

A little boy that I recognized from the Hermes Cabin walked in and whispered something in Lenny's ear. "Gregory already got Athena and Apollo on his team. No surprise on that."

But it was a surprise to Eric. He threw his blade to the ground and charged against Lenny, pulling him by his shirt.

"That pretentious little prince went after other cabins before coming to us? Does he think he doesn't need Ares on his side to win!"

"Yeah, apparently so. Do you mind? This is kind of a new shirt, it was a birthday present from my mom." Lenny fell on the ground when Eric released him. "What a charming family."

"I have never been so insulted in my entire life at this camp. You can count with Ares by your side, son of Poseidon. Gregory won't even know what hit him." Eric and I shook hands and I sighed in relief.

"What now?" Jane asked. "What other cabin do we want on our team?"

"If I were you, I'd go after the Hephaestus crowd. The boys are big and strong and their inventions are always useful." Eric said to me.

"Wouldn't that be awkward," Lenny started saying. "After everything that happened between you and their head, Virginia?"

Eric's face slowly turned to Lenny, progressively getting redder and redder. He raised a finger toward the son of Hermes and threatened him in that way that only a son of Ares can.

"You mention that girl's name again and I swear to my father I will break every single bone in your body, snap out your fingers with my teeth, fry them and force you to eat them while you watch yourself in the mirror."

Lenny swallowed dry and blinked.

"Okey dokey, mate."

Jane and I went from there straight to the forges, looking for Virginia, the head of the Hephaestus Cabin. Smoke got out from the windows and six chimneys on the roof of the gray stone construction. Next to it there was a wood shelter, like a small barn. The door was open and we could hear the sound of engines and metal clashing together. We sneaked in and saw a giant steam machine working, bronze pieces and parts span and moved up and down while steam poured out everywhere. I saw a girl on the top of a ladder, staring deep inside the engines, checking every single detail.

"Excuse me!" I said, trying to get her attention. "Hey!"

"Just a second!" She shouted, not diverging her attention from the machine. "Gods, it's now!" She got off the ladder, grabbed a small glass filled with tea and put it under a small metal tube. The machine soon stopped and we heard the sound of something small coming down the tube. A single small ice cube fell inside the glass and into the tea. The girl smiled and cheered.

"Yes! Ice tea?" She said offering the glass to us. "I've always loved tea, but I don't like hot beverages. In the winter I'd rest a cup outside so it could get cold, but since we're in the summer, I can't do that. So I built this ice making machine and now here it is! Ice tea!"

"You built this mechanical monster to make one ice cube so you could drink ice tea?" Jane asked.

"What?" The girl replied. "You say that like I'm crazy or something."

"You're not crazy. From what I see, you're just really passionate about ice tea."

The girl smiled and nodded before taking a sip from her drink. "Well, thank you, son of Poseidon! It's an honor having you in my lair. I'm Virginia, head of the Hephaestus Cabin."

We shook hands and I smiled. "Just the girl I wanted to see."

Virginia was tall and thin, but her legs and arms were strong because of all the hard work in the forges. She wore a brown leather apron over white clothes that were stained with grease. She had straight, long brown hair and wore a pair of golden round glasses. And, just like pretty much every girl I'd seen in camp so far, she was drop dead gorgeous.

I explained to her the situation and she smiled.

"Really? Eric told you to look for me? Why? What did he say? Word by word."

"What happened between you two anyway?" I asked.

Virginia took a sip of her ice tea and shrugged.

"We're one of those couples who know each other since we were kids. First we were really close friends and then something more. But our relationship was too complicated. I need my time alone with my work and he's a little bit too impulsive. One day he took this steam engine prototype I was working on and smashed it with his bare hands. I had to break up with him."

"And you think it's a good idea that you and he be on the same team for Capture the Flag?" Jane asked.

"Of course!" Virginia answered. "Why do you think he wants me with him on the team? Ares kids work better when angry and irritated."

"That must be why I keep Jack around." Jane said, laughing.

"Virginia, our team could use you and your siblings. We're going against Gregory, the Apollo kids, every single person who judges themselves better than everyone else. I heard the stories, I felt it in my own skin. Someone needs to kick those guys out of that throne." I said.

Virginia lowered her ice tea and sighed.

"My younger brothers suffer in the hands of those bullies. Tying them up to trees, spanking them, terrorizing them. I'm tired of having to see them coming back crying, hiding in the forges cause they're too afraid to leave the side of their older, stronger brothers." She said. "This camp has lived in fear for too long. It's time for a change. You can count with us, Jack."

Our team now was Poseidon, Ares, Hermes and Hephaestus. There was only one slot left to fill. We ran across the Cabins Valley as the twilight painted the gray sky purple.

"Hey! Where you two heading to?" We bumped into Lenny under a pine in the Cabins Valley, smoking a pipe. The guy is fucking everywhere.

"Want some update on Gregory's blue team composition?"

"Spill it out already!"

He got up and brushed the dirt off his clothes.

"Word is that he closed his team. Zeus, Apollo, Athena, Demeter and Dionysus. Going to be tough to beat, even with Ares on our side."

"Wait a minute," I said. "We were just heading to Dionysus, we figured they'd be still available. What about Aphrodite, aren't them on Gregory's team?"

"Are you kidding me?" Lenny laughed. "Prince boy is serious about beating you, Big Jack. Aphrodite would be the last cabin he'd want in his team."

"But," I just couldn't understand. "Mary is his girlfriend. He doesn't want her in his team?"

"A pretty romantic guy that son of Zeus, huh?" Lenny smiled and took a smoke off his pipe. "I guess the girls will be on our team, then. No biggie, if you ask me. I for one always enjoy having the Aphrodite girls by my side. And on top of me, under me…"

I sighed and saw Cabin Ten across the valley. Well, I guess having Mary on my team wasn't really a bad idea.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." I told Jane and ran towards the Aphrodite Cabin.

"Great, run to your princess, Jack! Ugh, what an idiot!" Jane grunted, taking the pipe off of Lenny's hand and breaking it with her bare hands.

I knocked on the white and gold door and a beautiful fifteen year old redhead girl answered. She looked at me and sighed.

"You're here about the Capture the Flag, right? I know, we're in your team. I think it's great, but it always hurts my sister." She said.

"Is she there?"

The girl smiled warmly and nodded.

"I'll go get her."

A few seconds later, Mary opened the door and smiled. "Jack." She sat on the steps of the balcony and I did the same. "It's an honor being in your team."

She sounded so sad, so disappointed. It made my heart beat in anger.

"How could he not want you in his team, Mary? It just doesn't get into my head. What is he thinking?"

"He's thinking as someone who wants to win. We daughters of Aphrodite are not the best warriors in camp, on the contrary. It was a tactical decision."

I exploded. "It's bullshit, Mary, and you know it! So you're good to be his girlfriend, but you're not good enough to fight on his side? Just, how did you end up with a guy like that?"

Mary looked at the distance and smiled nostalgically. "We were young and he was a different person back then," She said. "He used to have this sadness in his eyes, as if he hadn't chosen to be a son of Zeus, he didn't want all that responsibility on his shoulders."

"Mary, tell me you see how he acts now. He's arrogant, cold, doesn't care about anyone but himself. What are you still doing with him?" I could be getting out of line, but I didn't care.

"I still love him." She said, her eyes getting wet. "I know that humble boy that didn't hesitate before helping anyone is still somewhere inside of him. You wouldn't understand, Jack."

I held my anger and got up. "I'm glad, I'm very glad to have Aphrodite on my team, tell that to your sisters," I kneeled so I could look her in the eyes. "And Mary, together we will show him that he made a big mistake not wanting you on his team."

Mary smirked playfully. "Well, we do have our tricks." She got up and punched me gently on the arm. "You've seen nothing yet." She bit her lower lip and got inside the cabin, leaving me with my stomach being twisted as if it was an old ragdoll.

I sighed and started walking to Cabin Eleven. Only halfway down the path, I remembered that I had a new home now. I crossed that side of the valley, going through the Hephaestus, Apollo and Ares cabins before stopping in front of Cabin Three. It had a similar size to all other cabins, a two story house made with bricks and wood, but it was light blue and green, the colors of the sea. You could see sea shells carved into the concrete, a thin layer of sand covering the bricks. It smelled like the ocean. I don't know how I knew that, because I had never seen the ocean, but I knew it smelled like it.

The first floor had all sorts of weird stuff hanging on the walls—navy uniforms, helms, bronze tridents. The floor was covered in sand and the sink poured salty water, which smelled like heaven. Smelled like home.

On the bed was the silver sword I got from Mr. Turquoise's living room the night before, it had been confiscated by Gregory but now it was back to me. I picked it up and swung it in the air. It was light, the perfect length, totally balanced.

"It's curious that this sword, from all others, found its way to you."

I turned around and saw Chiron standing on the doorway.

"What do you mean?"

"This is the adamantine sword that Zeus gave to his son Perseus. It's been lost for centuries. I almost forgot what it looked like, until I saw it with you this morning."

"You don't mean _the _Perseus, right?"

Chiron chuckled nostalgically.

"You remind me of him when he asked me if I was the same Chiron that trained '_the_ Hercules'," He said. "I never saw one single great hero that had any idea of what he was capable of. Confidence comes from experience, from trial and error. Don't put yourself down in case you don't win tomorrow, Jack. You're just a beginner, after all."

Chiron turned around and started walking out of the cabin.

"You don't think I can beat Gregory's team?"

The centaur shrugged.

"I wouldn't bet on you either winning or losing," He smirked. "But just know that, in case you win, you will have made me gain a few golden drachmas from some old satyrs."

Chiron left the cabin and I held Perseus' blade tight in my hand, my heart beating fast, my blood boiling with excitement. I hope Friday night gets here fast.


	7. We Will Rock You

Chapter 7

We Will Rock You

My first night at Cabin Three was normal. I missed the warmth of the Hermes table at dinner, and by warmth I mean Penny's hips and sweet, sweet perfume. Sure, I could eat anything I wanted, the mess hall at night with the torches hanging on the pillars was breathtakingly beautiful, but still. It just wasn't the same eating alone.

Since I was the only member of the Poseidon Cabin, I could call lights out whenever I wanted. I spent a good few hours of the night exploring the cabin, trying to find the significance in the artifacts on the walls, taking a look at the books on the shelves of the second floor—getting to know my new home. Secretly, I wished that in those old, dusty pages I could find something, a secret strategy that I could use Friday night. But there was nothing there for me. Whatever it was I was going to do, I'd have to figure it out by myself.

The next morning, I gathered with the heads of cabins in my team, Eric, Lenny, Virginia and Mary. We sat at the large stone table on the second floor of Cabin Three to discuss strategies and options.

"You know," Lenny started, pointing downstairs. "This one time I was with this Dionysus gal, young, blond curls, soft buns and I had nowhere to take her, so I figured, 'Hey, nice Cabin Three is always empty, guess old sea beard won't mind' so I brought her here and we did what we had to do."

"And then what happened?" Virginia asked, her brown eyes opened wide behind the golden round glasses.

"Oh, nothing. I just felt like sharing." He said. "Although, I did almost drown this time I was playing on a frozen lake past winter, but I guess it didn't have anything to do with it."

An awkward silence filled the room. Eric and Virginia were sitting next to each other, but acted as if the other one was invisible. Mary, beside me, looked seriously out of place in that type of meeting and Lenny, well, was just being Lenny.

"So…" I started. "Red team, any idea on how we're going to win this thing?"

Eric looked at me and his eyes sparkled like a chandelier.

"Blunt force, mate. We hit them like a bloody avalanche, taking down everything in its way. Classic Ares style."

"Are you forgetting the Blue team has Athena on their side?" Virginia said. "It'd be like sending dozens of soldiers into a mousetrap. Battle has evolved since we got out of caves, dear."

Eric turned to his former better-half, his face in pure rage.

"Go play with your bolts and screws, Ginny. Isn't that what you love the most?"

They both crossed arms and refused to look at each other.

"Yikes," Lenny uttered. "Nice atmosphere here. Suppose you two got something going on too?" He pointed at me and Mary and she became as red as a tomato. "Come on, pumpkin, don't be shy. We all got a thing for Big Jack here, he's a hunk."

I looked at him with urgency in my eyes.

"What? I'm just telling the truth, mate. If I were Penny I'd be all over you by now. But my little sister was always a bit slow, I'm afraid."

The awkward silence reigned once more.

"Well, isn't this lovely." I whispered to myself.

We actually got to discuss some ideas that morning, nothing really useful, but still was some progress. In the afternoon, I trained. I mean, I really trained. Sword Fighting class with Jane and some of her brothers was really fun. Got my ass kicked, but managed to cause some bruises too.

Meanwhile, my team was shattered. Eric and Virginia wouldn't look at each other, Lenny was too busy doing whatever it is that he does and Mary was locked in Cabin Ten with her sisters. I felt like a damn failure of a leader.

At night, after dinner, I managed to gather the heads again, this time with some of their siblings too. This meeting went a little better, mostly because of the fact that Penny kept Lenny's mouth shut and there were like six people between Eric and Virginia. In fact, I don't remember seeing Lenny at all till later. We discussed some tactics and winning strategies, and I heard their previous experiences in the game. It wasn't as productive as I wished, but it was good.

When everyone was getting ready to leave the Poseidon Cabin, Lenny reappears with one of his younger siblings, carrying two heavy wood boxes.

"Heroes!" He called. "In ancient times, armies would gather around a fire the night before a battle and celebrate their friendship with wine, food and music. Celebrating life at the dawn of death."

"Did they really do that?" Someone in the back asked.

Lenny shrugged and opened the boxes. "Oh, I have no idea," He put a bottle of Scotch on the table. "Just thought it'd sound epic and cool, mate."

All around the cabin, people cheered and glasses started appearing and being poured with stolen whisky. A group started playing music and, before I knew it, our entire team was there, all members of the children of Ares, Hermes, Aphrodite and Hephaestus crowded inside Cabin Three, getting drunk on their asses.

From then, things just happened naturally. I remember random flashes of euphoria, singing along with songs I'd never heard before, girls getting on tables and raising their skirts, someone getting punched here and there and random people kissing. At one point, after emptying an entire glass of scotch, I remember getting on the table and making a speech to the team, everyone cheering and shouting in support.

I remember Mary dancing and laughing before locking eyes with me, after I gave the speech. She walked slowly toward me. The daughter of Aphrodite wore a short Greek battle skirt made of black leather, letting her tanned and strong thighs show, a corset highlighted her curves and her firm, round breasts almost made me pass out. The other girls in camp were all beautiful and gorgeous, but Mary… Mary was beyond that. She seemed to grow more beautiful the more you looked at her.

She stopped before me and her full lips seemed to drag me toward her. I took a large sip of whisky and held my ground. My fight with Gregory would be tomorrow, not now.

"That was a great speech you gave up there," She said. "You have this talent to make people follow you. Just look around. Everyone here would follow you to death if you asked them to."

"Are you included in 'everyone'?" I asked.

Mary bit her lower lip and smiled.

"Maybe."

My stomach seemed to turn upside down.

"Maybe is good enough, for now."

"Look at my sisters," She said, one inch closer to me. "No one ever treated us like you did, encouraging us, happy to have us on your team. I never saw them so confident when it came to battle. We will give everything we have for you tomorrow night, Jack." Mary winked. "I also want you to know that it's been taken care of."

I only smiled and stared deep into her brown eyes. She smiled and bit her lip again. The alcohol shot up to my head, blacking out my judgment and inhibitions.

"Goodnight, Jack." Mary smiled and walked away. Gladly, before I could screw up.

She gathered her sisters and the Aphrodite Cabin left the party, leaving a couple dozen guys, including me, very disappointed. As curfew time passed, more and more people started going away, including Jane and the Ares crowd. Until it was finally me, Lenny, Penny and a couple of undetermined guys. Everything in the cabin was in perfect order.

"You may be drunk on the floor, but you still respect the sea god." Lenny said, before passing out on the floor. I felt something on me and looked up to see Penny sitting on me, her gorgeous face looking down at me. She took a long sip of whisky and wrapped her arms around my neck.

Penny leaned closer and I felt her lips on my ear.

"Hey there, Little Jack."

She moved her hips closer and I felt her burning on me, my entire body became tense, my blood boiling for her soft, milky skin. With the tip of her fingers, Penny raised the bar of her white skirt, exposing her thighs, she opened two buttons on her blouse, letting out her beautiful cleavage.

She raised her glass of whisky in the air and looked deep in my eyes.

"Here's to victory tomorrow." Penny poured the drink on her chest and pulled me closer, my lips and tongue tasting the alcohol off her sweet breasts, while her nails scratched the back of my head.

I lifted her by the calves and kissed her while taking her to bed, my tongue deep inside her throat. I threw her in the bed and took off my jacket and shirt, before getting between her legs and running my tongue through her neck while her nails left marks on my bare back. With my hands, I tore off her blouse and reached inside her skirt, feeling her hot and moist. Penny moaned and held my right forearm, slowly passing her tongue through my trident mark. I took her forearm and touched her caduceus birthmark with my lips.

The brightness of the torches that lighted the cabin seemed to dim the more I felt her skin on mine, the messier her hair got, the more she bit her lip and moaned. As I got inside of her, the fire went out and I saw the pleasure on her face under the pale moonlight.

The next day, Friday, I was completely focused. Most of the camp activities were empty, the campers, all divided in blue and red teams, spent most of the day getting ready for the event of the evening. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were the only times of the day when I saw any member of the blue team. I wondered what Gregory was doing right now, what strategy he was developing, what was the spirit of his team members, but I forced myself to stay focused on my own team, our own strategies and tricks. By the time we came out from the mess hall after dinner, the entire camp had been taken by the atmosphere of battle.

Alone in Cabin Three, moments before the beginning of the game, I sat in bed, staring at a navy blue armor hanging on the wall, it was the color of the sea at its darkest. Finally, I decided to get up and take the pieces off the wall. The chest, arm and leg protections fitted perfectly. I put Perseus' blade on my belt and carried the helmet under my arm, walking out of the cabin and toward the woods, where most campers were already sitting and waiting for the beginning of the battle.

People stopped and stared as I walked between the crowd with my dark blue bronze armor, Perseus' legendary adamantine sword at the reach of my hand. The confidence in the faces of the red team reached the sky as I stopped under the enormous red flag with a black trident on it. The crest on my helmet turned red as I touched the massive flag behind me.

Eric, Jane, Lenny, Penny, Virginia and Mary gathered around me, all in their battle garments. Jane and her siblings wore blood red armors while Mary's was black and pink. The others wore traditional bronze and steel armors with a red crest of hair on the top of their helmets.

"You look great in blue, Jack." Penny said. "Although you really look better in your natural color."

I heard grunts and Jane whispered to herself. "Why isn't she on the blue team, gods?"

Mary leaned closer to Jane and whispered something in her ear, the daughter of Ares laughed surprised and smiled at the daughter of Aphrodite. Now there's something I never thought I'd see.

"They get calmer and friendlier minutes before a battle." Virginia said, reading my mind and pointing at the red armors of the children of Ares.

I smiled and looked over at the other side, to the blue team. I saw members of the Apollo and Athena cabin in front of the group, but no sign of Gregory yet. I stared into the woods, where the battle would take place. The endless sea of trees was separated by a creek, close from where we were gathered, our team would position the flag on the south side of the creek, while Gregory's blue flag would be on the north. It was a simple game, march into enemy territory, steal the flag and bring it to your territory.

Cheers came from the blue team when Gregory came in running alongside Chiron, carrying the enormous blue flag with a white eagle on it. He stopped before his team and waved the flag like a trophy, as if he had already won the game. Chiron stood between the two teams and raised his arms, asking for silence.

"Heroes!" He shouted, his powerful voice sounding all over the crowd. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire woods are fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. I urge you to avoid any maiming or killing." His eyes went straight to the Ares crowd on our team when he said that. "I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

We put on our helmets and took out our weapons, a horn sounded in the distance. The game had officially begun.

Gregory turned to his team and shouted. "Blue team, follow me!" Before leading them into the woods. I shrugged and did the same. "Red team, this way!" The almost sixty people under my command followed me into the woods, straight to the south side of the creek.

"It's this way." Eric said, pointing at the direction of a spot he claimed to be perfect to position the flag. It was at the top of two big gray boulders, deep into our side of the woods. "I've been waiting since last summer to use this spot. You're a lucky man, son of Poseidon." Eric said, helping me to put the flag on top of the boulders.

The head of the Ares Cabin appointed one of his best warriors to be one of the guards, while a huge son of Hephaestus was recommended by Virginia as the second guard. The team gathered in a circle around me for our last moment together before the beginning of the battle. I looked around and saw all those anxious faces, desperate to fight, to be a part of the victorious team.

"Hermes, Hephaestus, Ares and Aphrodite," I started. "We stand here tonight, side by side, as brothers in battle. We stand here together because we are tired. Tired of being oppressed by people who judge themselves better than us, tired of living in fear, too afraid to step out of our own cabin, tired of being humiliated by so called leaders that did nothing to deserve being treated the way they are. Tonight, I fight with my brothers of the Hermes Cabin, home of the unwanted, the undetermined who found here in this camp the first family they ever had. Tonight, I fight with my Hephaestus brothers, brilliant inventors and forgers, but so persecuted by bullies, forced to hide inside the forges and Cabin Nine to escape shameless humiliation and beating. I fight tonight with my brothers of Ares, home of the greatest warriors that ever walked the earth, but also, home of the most loyal friends you could ever ask for. And, finally, we fight tonight with our Aphrodite sisters, whose unparallel beauty was thought to not belong in the battlefield. But little does the leader of the other team know, but love is the toughest battlefield of all. Tonight, girls, it's your time to prove them wrong," I found Mary's eyes in the crowd. "To prove that they were fools to not want you on their team."

I stopped and looked into the face of every single member of the red team.

"Tonight, brothers, sisters, we take a stand. We fight for everyone who has ever been humiliated for being different, we fight for the weak who suffered in the hands of the injust. Tonight we fight to bring down the reign of terror and fear that has been in power for too long. Let's do this for the outcast, the misunderstood, the underrated, the humiliated. Let's do this is for all of us." I raised my sword toward the north side of the creek. "To victory, red team! To victory!"

The entire team cheered and roared in absolute euphoria, starting to spread around the woods in the patterns we had planned. I ran to right, away from where most of the fight was going to take place.

"Jane, Mary," I looked beside me. "Eyes open."

We ran until we reached the creek, the sounds of the battle coming from far away.

"I hope they're doing fine." Mary said, swallowing dry.

"My brothers are with them, trust me, they are fine." Jane said. "And now what, Jack?"

I took off my helmet and put it on the ground. "Now we wait."

That was our strategy. I knew very well that this wasn't really a game of Capture the Flag, this was a duel, a personal duel between me and Gregory. And I knew, as much as he knew the same about me, that he could even lose the game for all he cared, as long as he walked out of those woods carrying my dead body.

"He's going to want to take you away from the creek, Jack." Mary said. "I know how he thinks, he likes to disarm his opponents from their biggest strength."

"Which means he's nothing but a big coward." Jane said, swinging her sword in the air.

"You two are here to make sure of that," I said, looking at them. "That our duel takes place here."

It didn't take long till we started hearing steps getting closer and closer every second. I positioned myself in front of Mary and Jane and waited. Then I could see his shiny silver armor emerge in the darkness of the woods. Gregory walked into the creek with six men by his side.

"Six men? This is between you and me, Gregory." I said, spinning my sword as our eyes locked. He grinned and replied.

"I thought you'd be smarter and bring most of your team with you, but I guess I was wrong. Only the newbie daughter of Ares and, with all due respect, my love," He said, looking at Mary. "A daughter of Aphrodite. What did you hope to achieve by bringing Mary here, Jack?"

The son of Zeus and his group started to circle us, trying to get us with our backs turned to woods.

"I just wanted to have people I can trust by my side."

Gregory chuckled.

"And you think you can trust her? Jack, for your grief, Mary is my girlfriend. What makes you think that she wasn't acting as a spy inside your team, passing me all your tactics and strategies? Oh, really naive, son of Poseidon."

I smiled for a split-second and played along.

"Mary would never betray her team."

Gregory laughed to the skies.

"Mary is a daughter of Aphrodite, Jack." He said, staring at her behind me. "She'd never betray her love. And she didn't, did you, my princess?"

I turned around in time to see Mary sneak behind Jane and put her sword on her throat.

"I'm sorry, Jack." Mary said. "But love is love."

Gregory smiled triumphant while Jane tried to uselessly fight Mary off of her. I walked back as the son of Zeus and his six men got closer and closer.

"The game didn't even start and you had already lost, Jack." He said. "Mary told me everything. Where your flag is, your attack and defense patterns. I had the Athena Cabin trace a perfect strategy to swallow your entire team in no time. They won't even need me to lead them." He smiled. "This is what you get for trusting a daughter of Aphrodite."

I tried to put on my best fear face, but I didn't resist.

"No, Prince Gregory. This is what you get for not trusting a daughter of Aphrodite." I covered my nose. "Mary, now!"

Mary let go of Jane and reached for a small red bag on her belt. She threw it to the ground and a pink cloud of dust involved us. Gregory and his men coughed for a few seconds until the cloud dissipated in the air.

"What the hell is this?" Gregory shouted. As he said it, his men started to throw away their weapons and kneel on the ground, muttering senseless poems of love while crawling to kiss Mary's feet.

"Love magic, Greg." Mary said, the satisfaction clear in her face.

"You betrayed me, Mary?" He said in shock. "How could you do this to me?"

Mary shrugged and smirked. "'It's just a game, my love.' Wasn't that what you told me when you said you didn't want me on your team? 'It has nothing to do with you and me'."

Gregory's face turned scarlet red and he got ready to call Mary all sorts of names. I raised my sword toward him.

"You call her by any name other than her own and I'll cut your tongue off, son of Zeus."

"So now what, it's three against one?" He said.

Jane put away her sword and spit at Gregory's feet.

"Jack's not the coward you are."

With Mary and the men worshiping her, she turned her back on me and Gregory and walked away, leaving the two of us alone. Gregory chuckled and raised his sword.

"Well played, Jack. I'll tell you that. I suppose the information Mary passed me was wrong."

I shrugged.

"Let's just say that your team had a hell of a surprise."

He pointed his blade to the skies. "It comes down to you and me, then."

Thunder roared as a lightning cracked the night and reached his blade, surrounding it with power. As the electric discharge touched the tip of the sword, Gregory spun it and charged against the ground. A wave of electricity hit me hard, knocking me down. I fell straight into the creek, the water healing me, filling me and my blade with its strength. I got up and grinned.

"My turn."

With one twist of my blade, I turned the water around us into a whirlpool, swallowing Gregory into the water. I felt the stream as if it was an extension of my being, under my command, it dragged Gregory down the creek and it suddenly stopped. I ran to his position, and jumped, my blade pointing down, ready to hit whichever part of him that I could.

He saw the strike and defended the blow with his electric blade, forcing me to the side, getting me defenseless for a second. Gregory took the opportunity and punched me against my ribcage. I didn't feel the blow because it hit the armor, but the electricity it released made me fly meters away, off the creek. I landed violently on my back, feeling the agonizing pain of a broken rib. I managed to get up before he got to me and prepared my defense.

The son of Zeus charged against me, my arms getting more and more numb at every encounter of our blades. I was starting to lose my grip around Perseus' sword, when I managed to break away from his attack and run for the water. In the creek, my strength was back. Gregory watched me from the margin, too smart to dive in.

"You are good, Jack. There's no denying. But let's see if Poseidon can resist the power of Zeus after all." He jumped with his sword over his head, as if he was going to slice me in half. For the blink of an eye, a lightning turned the night into day and hit me at the same time as Gregory's blade. The blow would make me faint right there, but I was inside the water, I had the Poseidon's power backing me down.

Gregory pressed his sword against mine, our blades crossed between us, in the middle of the clash between thunder and water. Both of us were holding our positions when an ancient roar came from the deepest of shadows and reached our ears, followed by screams of pure horror. Something was happening back at the battlefield and it wasn't good.

Gregory and I retreated and looked at each other. There was nothing to be said, we put away our swords and ran toward the others, the screams getting worse at every step we took. An unparallel fear took over my heart as I raced through the night with my biggest rival to save the lives of everyone at Camp Half-Blood.


	8. The Number Of The Beast

Chapter 8

The Number Of The Beast

Words cannot describe what I saw as Gregory and I got to the first campers. The creek had turned red with blood, people laid on the ground with missing limbs or profound cuts to the head or chest. Some were still alive, some dead. Screams of horror filled the entire woods.

"The others are trying to stop them, they need your help!" Told us a Demeter camper, sitting on the grass, bleeding from his face. Gregory and I ran even faster till we got to the fight. The first thing I saw was a big, massive shadow as black as the darkest night. It turned to face me as it knocked down an Athena girl with its giant paw, its eyes were the color of pain and its huge fangs were stained with blood.

"Hellhounds!" Gregory said, pulling out his sword.

I looked around and saw four of those monsters running around, attacking everyone in their line of sight. I didn't hesitate, I pulled out Perseus' sword and ran to the closest beast. It stared at me and roared as loud as an explosion, its breath impregnated with the smell of death. It tried to bite me as I slid on the grass and charged against its legs with my blade. The hellhound fell sideways, still biting, wanting to have me for dinner, but not able to stand up without its left legs. Arrows hit it in the neck and head, weakening it even more.

"Jack, now! Finish it!" Penny shouted behind me, a bow in her hands. I jumped on its back and held onto its long black fur, in a down motion I stabbed it with Perseus' sword just above the neck. It cried in pain before vanishing into a cloud of golden dust, leaving behind only its fowl stench.

I immediately got up and looked for another monster to slay. The campers were running around, trying to confuse the beasts, while some shot arrows and poke them with spears and blades, but no one managed to get close enough to slay them. A lightning cracked the night as Gregory sent one back to the underworld, now there were only two left.

"Jack!" Mary raced towards me and my heart sighed in relief to see that she was safe. There was blood all over her armor and her blade was crooked, with bite marks on it. "Come quick, Jane's in danger!"

I followed Mary till I heard Jane's voice grunting in pain. One of the hellhounds was squashing her with its paw, while roaring to the other campers, trying to keep them away. Arrows flew and hit its body, but they were like mosquito bites to it. The dog locked its red eyes on me. It sniffed and its eyes burned brighter when it recognized my blood.

It got off of Jane and charged toward me, its jaw open wide enough to swallow me in one try. It was coming fast, but before I could think of anything, a bronze sword flew through the air and hit it in the eye. The hellhound cried and tripped on its paws, coming toward me like a giant fist of blackness. I closed my eyes and prepared for the impact but all that hit me was the stench of the underworld, I opened my eyes and saw that the monster had disintegrated into a cloud of golden dust.

"Take that, you fucking beast!" Jane screamed, trying to walk toward me. Her legs and arms bleeding on the spots where the hellhound's claws were forced against her. She fell on her knees before me and reached for her blade, now stained with blood from the monster's eyeball. "You're welcome, Jack." She said, spitting blood on the grass.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of her, Jack!" Mary said, coming to lay Jane on the grass. "Go take care of the last one, Gregory needs your help!"

I looked at Jane lying there, covered in blood and pain and hesitated about leaving her side. But as the roar of the last surviving hellhound reached my ears I knew what had to be done.

I walked to where Gregory battled against the monster. His electric blade swinging against the shadow monster, leaving burnt marks on its fur, while he tried to avoid losing an arm or a head to its jaws.

"Hey, hell shit!" I screamed, making the hellhound face me and give its back to Gregory. "Gregory, thunder!"

The son of Zeus nodded and summoned the lightning while I jumped and charged my blade against its skull. I hit it at the same time as the electricity, instantly turning the hellhound into mythological dust.

The crowd didn't cheer as the last monster was killed, they started running around to take a look at the wounded. Chiron, who held a bow in his hands, trotted to us and smiled sadly. "Good job, boys. I hope the damage isn't as big as it looks."

I stared at Gregory and nodded before running to see Jane. Mary held her hand, while a son of Apollo treated her wounds and gave her little pieces of ambrosia. Jane rolled her eyes as she saw me kneeling beside her.

"Not another one to hold my hand, the princess here is already enough." She said, nodding her head toward Mary.

"You are one rude bitch, did you know that?" Mary said laughing while tears rolled down her face. "I won't leave your side."

The son of Apollo sighed. "No, she'll be as good as new by the morning. You two should stay here and aid the other survivors. Don't worry, we'll take care of her." He said, looking at us. I immediately recognized him. He was one of the guys from Gregory's pack, he was there when I was tied around the tree. It's funny how a tragedy can bring all groups of people together.

He took Jane in his arms and rushed toward the infirmary. Mary got up and threw herself in my embrace, crying on my chest. I held her tight and tried to stop the tears that accumulated behind my eyes.

"I'm so glad you're alright." I whispered. "How are your sisters, are they okay?"

"They're all fine, thank the gods." She said, looking into my eyes.

I sighed and kissed her forehead. "We should go help the others."

Mary looked at me and remained silent for several seconds. I didn't want to go anywhere. I wanted to stay there, holding her through the night. But you can't always get what you want.

She nodded and let go of me unwillingly. We walked around the area, looking for a way to help. We lost six campers that night, what Chiron considered to be luck. In under an hour, all the wounded were being treated or resting in the infirmary, while the siblings and friends of the ones we lost mourned their passing. Many went to their cabins to rest, knowing that there was nothing else to be done, but most of us remained wide awake, too hurt to fall asleep.

I stayed with Lenny, Penny and some Ares kids under a pine at the Cabins Valley, waiting for news about what happened earlier.

"Not that it matters now," I said. "But did we win?"

Lenny nodded. "We were about to, mate. Eric here was carrying the blue flag back to our field when the dogs appeared."

"Everything was going as planned, you should've seen the face of the Athena kids when they realized they'd walked into a trap." Eric said, smiling. "It was priceless."

Penny, who had her arms around my waist and her head on my shoulder, whispered in my ear. "How about we go to bed now, you and me?" I was about to say yes, when I saw Chiron trotting towards us, his eyes fixed on mine.

"Jack, where's Gregory?" He asked, stopping in front of us.

"With his _girlfriend_, why?" I said.

"Lenny, go search for Gregory. Tell him Jack and I are waiting for him at the big house." Lenny sighed, but got up and walked away towards Cabin One. "Come with me, Jack."

Penny kissed me on the neck as I got up and followed Chiron toward the yellow brick mansion at the end of Half-Blood Hill.

"What is this about, Chiron?"

The centaur looked down at me and I saw worry in his eyes.

"About what happened tonight, Jack." He said. "And what you two are going to do about it."

Gregory joined us ten minutes later, he looked pale and weak, as if he hadn't eaten or slept in a week. The son of Zeus crashed on one of the sofas of the big house and struggled to keep his eyes open.

"What happened to you? I don't remember you getting hurt in the fight." I said.

Gregory glanced at me and I was glad that he couldn't shoot electricity out from his eyes.

"I summoned way too many lightning tonight," He said. "It's not as easy as it seems, it takes a lot of energy."

Chiron stood before us in the middle of the room and cleared his throat.

"I believe what happened here tonight may be connected to a serious threat against Olympus," He said. "It has happened before, more than once. This attack is his way of letting us know that he's coming for it, for the throne of the gods."

"Who?" I asked.

Chiron opened his mouth, but Gregory spoke before he could.

"Hades."

"Hades? God of the underworld?" I asked.

The centaur nodded. "Only he would have under his control such a big amount of hellhounds. Plus, like I said, he's done it before. He knows how vulnerable Olympus is at this time, he knows it's the best chance he'll get in an era."

"Why did he do it then? Why didn't he just wait the right moment and attacked Olympus without anyone knowing?" I asked.

"Hades can't do all the work himself," Chiron said. "He needs demigods to complete his objective. He knows that an attack here would result in a group leaving on a quest."

"Then let's all just stay here, then. Problem solved." I said.

Gregory sighed. "If we stay, no one will be able to stop him, but he won't get everything he wants. We can't let that happen. He needs us and we need to stop him. The bastard left us without a choice."

"It's Hades' game and you're playing under his rules," Chiron said. "Another thing, if the pattern is repeating itself, then I'm afraid you two aren't alone. In times of great turmoil, there are always one son of each of the big three gods in the play."

"You mean there's a son of Hades out there somewhere?"

Chiron stroked his beard and sighed. "I'm afraid so, but we can't be sure. Hades doesn't have a throne in Olympus, so he doesn't get a cabin here at Camp Half-Blood. Children of Hades are extremely dangerous because they are forced to grow up out there, without any guidance, any training. It becomes easier for their father to gain their trust. An outcast will always sideline with another outcast."

"I'm sure wherever he is, this son of Hades is conspiring with his father. I will find him and send his soul back to the underworld, where it belongs." Gregory said.

"You worry about that later," Chiron said. "Now, one of you must be granted a quest. Come."

He started walking outside, Gregory got up and I followed them both. We walked till a small set of boulders near the woods, about a couple hundred meters from the big house. As we got nearer, I realized it was some sort of cave. Its entrance was covered by black veil and fire burned deep inside it.

We stopped in front of the veil and Chiron called out in his deep voice.

"Taylor!"

A few seconds of silence passed.

"Blimey, Chiron! I'm sleeping!" Sounded a high pitched voice from inside the cave.

"It's an emergency, Taylor." Chiron said, full of patience.

"Yeah, well, it's always an emergency for you and your demigods."

A short person wearing men clothes came out from the cave and stopped in front of us. He smiled unwillingly and I was suddenly confused. Was it a boy or a…

"Yes, I'm a girl, sword brain." She said looking at me. "Thought you'd know the difference by now."

"But…"

"My cursed father wanted a son and got a daughter instead. What did he do, then? Raised her as a boy, of course." She said, scratching her crotch. "Let me guess, you two pretty boys want a quest. I know the son of Zeus but green eyes here I've never seen before."

"This is Jack Brown, son of Poseidon," Chiron said. "And Jack, this is Taylor, the oracle of Delphi."

Taylor stared at me and spit on the grass. "Fine, let's get this over with." She walked to us and stared deep inside our eyes. Then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, when she opened them again, they were glowing green and her voice sounded high and low at the same time, as if it was a man and a woman speaking in one voice. A strange green smoke surrounded her as she mouthed the following words.

"I bring you this message on behalf of Lord Apollo, oracle of the gods.

_A child of the big three shall be Olympus' last stand,_

_Against the god of the dead's wish to his powers expand,_

_Shadow and light clashing with lies,_

_Against the father, the last hope shall arise."_

Taylor closed and opened her eyes again, staring at us with her regular brown eyes. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Safe dreams, Taylor." Chiron said. The oracle of Delphi rolled her eyes and opened her arms. "Finally! Good gods!" She went back into the cave and Chiron turned to us.

"I don't understand," Gregory said. "Was the prophecy directed at me or him?"

Chiron pondered for a moment and shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe that's what the gods intended. Now we have no choice but sending you two out there."

Gregory and I exchanged looks and sighed. I was stuck with prince boy for who knows how long now.

"Each of you shall pick someone to accompany you in this quest." Chiron said.

"Jane." I said immediately, not a doubt in my mind.

Gregory hesitated, he crossed his arms and thought. In my head, I was praying to hear her name.

"Mary." He said, finally. I sighed in relief and smiled. "Wipe that grin off your face, Jack." He said glancing at me.

"It's decided then," Chiron said. "Let them know of your decision. You'll leave now, as soon as you're ready."

"Where are we supposed to go?" I asked.

"Olympus, of course," Gregory answered. "London."

Chiron only nodded.

"And where exactly in London is Olympus?"

"Above the clouds, directly on top of the mortals' palace of power."

"Buckingham Palace?" I guessed.

"Almost," Gregory said. "The Palace of Westminster."

"The parliament? Couldn't they have picked a better crowd to lie on top of?" I said.

"Actually, it's above the north end of the palace, straight on top of the new clock tower they're constructing," Chiron said. "The mortals can feel that Olympus is leaving, that tower is their desperate attempt to reach out to the gods."

"Go get Mary," I told Gregory, feeling a knot in my throat. "Meet me at the stables as soon as you're ready."

The son of Zeus came closer to me and whispered in my ear. "A word of advice, Jack. You shouldn't try to steal someone else's girl. Things might get bad for you."

I swallowed dry, closed my fists and glanced at him.

"Meet me at the fucking stables."

Gregory gave me one last threatening stare and walked away, his white armor shining in the moonlight. What a bloody princess.

"I actually had hope that you two would get along someday," Chiron sighed. "Guess Zeus and Poseidon will never put their rivalry aside."

"You can bet on that."

Chiron smirked and I walked away, going straight to the infirmary.

After threatening to chop everyone in the infirmary's balls out, Jane got them to let her out. At Cabin Five, she packed her bag, carrying only what was strictly necessary—a sword, a shield and a few changes of clothes. After that, she sat on the bed at Cabin Three while I packed my few belongings.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked her, looking worried at the patch on her neck.

"Broken ribs were fixed and the cuts were taken care of. They gave me these ambrosia bits to take every few hours. I'm good as new." As she said it, she squealed in pain. "Trust me, damn it."

I put on my old black jacket, the bag on my shoulders and Perseus' sword on my belt. I was set to go. Jane and I walked till the stables and started preparing Ace for the trip.

"_I'm excited to go on this quest, Master Jack! I didn't want to leave Cherry's side though, we're starting to get along."_

"_No, we're not." _Cherry said from the other side of the stables.

"Don't worry, Ace," I said. "Cherry's coming with us too."

"_Really?_" Ace got on his hind legs and neighed in joy.

Cherry sighed.

"_Oh, dear gods."_

As the first rays of light started painting the sky blue, Gregory and Mary showed up. Him carrying her big and heavy bag.

"We're going on a quest, not moving to China, princess." Jane said.

Mary just smiled as she tied her bag on Cherry.

"It's great to see you too, Jane."

Jane rolled her eyes and grunted.

"Gods, Jack, she thinks we're friends now."

I got on Ace and helped Jane up. As I wrapped my hands around the reins, Jane put her arms around my belly. A chill came down my spine as I felt her body against my back. I'd never say this in front of her, but that time we spent together inside the carriage was one of the best I ever had. Too bad she doesn't remember any of it.

Gregory just stared at me and Jane and sighed. He got on Cherry and held the reins, ready to ride her.

"Woah, woah, woah. What do you think you're doing?" Mary said, glancing at him. "No one rides Cherry but me."

"I'm a son of Zeus, I'm quite at home above the skies, my love." He said proudly.

Mary crossed her arms and laughed. "Jack, what is Cherry saying about Gregory riding her?"

"_I like this son of Zeus."_

"She's saying 'Get this heavy bag of crap off of me'."

Mary arched her eyebrows at Gregory and he came down of Cherry.

"Fine, whatever you say."

"Thank you very much." Mary said, mounting on her Pegasus. As we were all set, Ace and Cherry trotted out of the stables. Between the clouds, the sun was rising, painting the horizon in vanilla, gold and blue. The Pegasi spread their wings and started racing through the grass, before taking a plunge and start unraveling the skies, reaching for the clouds and the sunrise.

"Holy mother of…" Jane said as she looked down to Camp Half-Blood. "Is this thing really safe?"

I turned around to look at her.

"Ace's the best there is."

"Second best, actually." Mary said beside us, making Cherry dash through the clouds faster than a bullet.

"Oh, for the gods, let's make the royal couple eat cloud dust." Jane said, patting me on the shoulder.

I smirked and caressed Ace's neck.

"Ace?"

"_Yeah, boss?"_

"Let's show these girls what we're made of."

Ace neighed and crossed the sky faster than lightning, travelling northeast. London, here we come.


	9. Paint It Black

Chapter 9

Paint It Black

Gray clouds covered the sun as the first hoofs of the city of London appeared below our feet. The capital of the modern world remained the same as the last time we've seen each other, even though a certain sadness was carried by the wind. Mortals had no idea that the Greek gods were real and had shared London with them for the last couple hundred years, but they could feel that a big part of them, of the English spirit, was disappearing a little bit more every day.

We had no idea how much time we had until Olympus' last goodbye, it could be an hour or a year. Whatever it was we had to do to save the flame of western civilization, it was better if we did it fast.

We landed in an old abandoned port, a few minutes away from downtown London.

"The mist should fool most people into not seeing the wings on our Pegasi." Gregory said, still mounted on Cherry. "We shouldn't waste any second."

The four of us trotted into the city, navigating the dangerous corners and alleys as four normal persons and a couple of horses. It was the middle of the morning and everyone was just going by with their lives, too busy trying to survive to notice the celestial turmoil around them.

"I am really fucking hungry," Jane said. "Whose idea was to leave camp before breakfast?"

"I know a place we can go," Gregory said. "Turn left here."

Mary made Cherry turn and trot down a long avenue that started filled with shops and restaurants and ended in the middle of some of the biggest houses I'd ever seen. I'd always walked around London a lot, but I'd never really been to the upper class neighborhoods. We stopped before a four story house made of red bricks with white windows and roof.

"It's been a while since I've been here." Mary said, her words coming from a distant and nostalgic past.

"Woah, who lives here?" Jane asked, tilting her head back so she could see the whole house. "The queen?"

"Actually, the prince." I said as I watched Gregory getting a key off his pocket and opening the huge white door.

We got off of Ace and followed Mary and Gregory as they stepped into the mansion. I went up the steps and stopped before the doorway, worrying if I should take off my dirty boots before walking on the tapestry. I could not like Gregory or his father, but I'm not impolite, you know? My mom made sure that was something no one could ever say of me.

I looked to my left and saw Jane there, blushing while looking down at the little blood stains on her clothes.

"Come on." I said, holding her hand and walking in with her. My first impression was why there are no windows in this house? All the curtains were closed, turning the dark oak of the walls even darker and stealing the gold ornaments from its usual glory.

We followed Gregory and Mary to the dining hall, where we were greeted by a long table covered by all types of food—breads, fruits, cakes, pies, anything you could want.

"Can we?" Jane whispered to me, her eyes going from me to the feast.

"Your mom still cooks this much?" Mary asked Gregory.

"She does this every day, just in case he decides to make a quick visit," He said, before turning to Jane and I. "I told you I knew where we could find food. Help yourselves, I'm not hungry."

Gregory exited the room and left Jane, Mary and I alone. We sat on the table and stared at all the food before us.

"The 'he' Gregory talked about," I said looking at Mary. "That's his father, right? Zeus?"

The daughter of Aphrodite nodded sadly and lowered her eyes.

"Gregory's mother used to be the most beautiful girl around, she'd have the wealthiest men in Britain coming down to ask her in matrimony. Until the day Zeus laid eyes on her. Suddenly, he was her entire world. I never want to know what is like to fall in love with a god. To know that you'll never find anyone like him, no matter how hard you look. And gods are gods, they'll eventually leave and you'll be stuck with a love that can't be shared with anyone but him," She swallowed dry and stared at the rose birthmark on her right forearm. "My dad always said 'After you had the most beautiful woman in the universe, love becomes just an endless bitter story'."

We ate in silence for a while, till Gregory came down the stairs and avoided us, going straight outside and mounting on Cherry.

"We should go." Mary said, looking worried at him through the window.

"What? Now?" Jane said, grabbing a chicken leg and a bread to take with her.

All that talk about our parents made me upset thinking about my mom. I wished she could've been so dazzled by Poseidon that she'd never want any other man in the world. Maybe that way she wouldn't have abandoned me to sail to America with the first rich guy she saw.

Jane and I mounted on Ace and started trotting away. I looked up and something on a window of the upper floor of Gregory's house caught my eye. It looked like a beautiful middle-age woman with long brown hair, obsessively looking up to the sky, waiting for something that she knew would never come.

I swallowed dry and told Ace to race down the avenue back to the London I was used to.

We were en route to the Palace of Westminster, simply because we had no idea where we were supposed to go now that we were in London. We stopped by a marble fountain near a fancy hotel so Ace and Cherry could drink some water. I sat on the marble and dunked my right hand on the fountain, took a deep breath and tried to get over how tired I was.

"This is my fourth quest. Trust me, things just tend to happen around you. We don't need a plan." Gregory said when Mary complained about visiting Olympus.

"Yeah, well, something better happen soon or I might have to pick a fight with someone just so I won't die of boredom." Jane said leaning on Ace.

"_Oh, the sweet smell of tea leaves. Reminds me of the old times. I love tea." _Ace said, and I should've guessed that was a bad thing. When you're a prisoner and forced to smuggle tea from Bath to London by the man who controlled more than half of the criminal activities in all of Britain, if something reminds you of the old times, it's usually not a good thing.

I heard the sound of a chariot stopping just behind the fountain. Before I could think of turning around Jane widened her eyes, stepped on the fountain and mounted on Ace.

"This is bad!"

As I turned around, I saw two men pointing their knives at us and shouting.

"Hey, you were the gal who stole our horse! Look, it's Ace of Spades, it's our Ace of Spades!"

I jumped on my Pegasus, startling Gregory and Mary, who still argued about which direction to take. When the chariot started circling the fountain toward us, the royal couple ran and got on Cherry, just in time for the smugglers' knives not to cut our arms off. We raced down the closest street, knocking people to the ground and scaring the other horses, while the chariot closed in behind us, charged by two strong stallions.

"Mary!" I shouted. "Prepare yourself!"

I pulled Ace's reins to the right, toward a fruit stand and a brick wall. "Now, buddy!" As the owner of the stand dived sideways to escape being kissed by half a ton of pure muscles, Ace jumped over the stand and spread his wings, his hooves trotted on the wall for a second before flying away, carried by the wind. The people in the street gasped and screamed when, after us, Cherry did the same maneuver and gained the skies.

Now, I don't know how the so called mist actually works, but I think a couple of horses bouncing off a wall and flying away isn't really easy to hide.

"For Ares, do not do that again!" Jane punched me on the ribs as London appeared endless below us.

"You got yourself some skills riding a Pegasus, son of Poseidon, I'll give you that." Mary said smiling as Cherry appeared beside us. "I guess we lost them."

"Unless we're not the only ones riding Pegasi." Gregory said looking back. I turned my head quickly and saw the two smugglers riding a couple of wood colored Pegasi, dashing above the roofs of London, coming to get us.

"I'll give you what you deserve, horse thief!" One of them screamed. "Yeah, you should've never messed with Fair!"

"Damn it, Ace, you really belonged to one of the most powerful men in London, don't you think you should've told me?" I shouted as we rose higher in the sky.

"_Sorry, Master Jack, must've slipped my mind." _Ace said.

"_Yeah, a lot of things slip your mind!" _Cherry replied, behind us.

As we flew upwards, the smugglers dashed toward us and forced us to fly lower. Ace closed his wings and span a couple of times before reestablishing flight away from our chasers.

"Oh, gods, I shouldn't have eaten so much." Jane said after the maneuver.

"Jack, heads up!"

I ducked before I could think, in time for Mary to fly Cherry awfully close above us and knock down one of the smugglers, who was about to take us from below. The man and the brown Pegasus fell from the sky and crashed on the gray roof of a house. I guessed whoever owned the place, wasn't the luckiest person in the world.

As I looked up, the remaining smuggler flew toward us and knocked Ace to the side with his huge brown Pegasus. We lost control for a while and hit Cherry beside us. The white mare flew sideways, while Mary tried to re-establish flight. The tower of a church appeared in front of them and I held my breath as Mary regained control of her Pegasus on the last second and flew through the bell windows of the tower, making the bell ring loud and a lot of people think it was already five 'o clock.

"It's you and me now, boy." Said the smuggler beside us. He tried to knock us down again, but I anticipated the attack and dived down with Ace, flying dangerously close to the roofs and chimneys of the city.

"Eyes open, Ace." I told my Pegasus, who neighed and increased the speed of his flight.

"_I think I have an idea, Master," _Ace said. "_But you're going to have to trust me."_

"I'm with you, buddy."

As I said it, Ace turned west and dashed like lightning, the brown Pegasus close behind us. I had no idea what Ace was planning, until I saw the enormous clock tower that was being constructed on the north end of the Palace of Westminster. I looked up and saw a brighter light behind the gray clouds. I hope the gods don't mind if we do our dirty work on their backyard. Ace raced faster than ever toward the golden tower covered by scaffolding.

"Ace, I trust you, but please don't kill us." I said, closing my eyes and praying to the gods above us.

"I second that!" Jane shouted behind me, holding me even tighter around my waist.

Ace didn't answer, instead increased his speed to the maximum. The tower became overwhelmingly close, the brown Pegasus so close to us he could probably bite Ace's ponytail.

When everything in my line of sight was scaffoldings and iron, Ace flew up and backwards, just meters before hitting the tower. He made a loop around the smuggler and his brown Pegasus who crashed faster than a train directly onto the tower, making scaffolds fly meters and meters away and people scream on the ground.

Thunder roared all around us as the entire clock tower shook with the impact. I looked to the skies and shrugged.

"Sorry, uncle. But that's what family is for, right?"

One last thunder sounded higher than the others before returning peace to the skies.

"_Woah, that was something! Can we do it again?" _Ace said, spinning excited in the air.

"How about we let Mary and Gregory ride you and then you can do it again?" Jane said behind me. I laughed and sighed relieved when we started going down and landed on a dark alley a few blocks away from the Palace of Westminster.

Jane and I got off of Ace and waited some minutes till Cherry appeared above us and landed gracefully next to where we were. Mary immediately got off and ran toward us.

"That was amazing! I never thought running away from criminals could be so much fun!" She said.

"Stealing a Pegasus, Jack?" Gregory said from a distance. "What are we going to find out next? You killed a duke or something?"

"A duke? No," I said, looking at him. "A son of Zeus? Perhaps."

"Boys, please." Mary said, looking from me to him. "What do we do now?"

Jane pointed up and grinned.

"Well, I don't know about you, but after all of this, I could go for a drink."

I looked up and saw a black and white sign on top of a little black door that was completely occult in the shadow of the alley. It read 'The Devil's pub' and looked just like the type of place Jane would want to take a look at.

"Sure, why not?" I shrugged and followed Jane in, noticing how Gregory and Mary hesitated on the doorstep. It was time for them to know the side of London Jane and I grew up in. The pub was dark and small, but filled with some of the worst looking people I'd ever seen in my life. And I'd been to the Ares Cabin.

Jane walked to the counter and whistled to the barman, who had a thick black beard around his ugliness, and a long scar going down from his left eye all the way to his massive chin.

"What can I get you, you lovely yellow bird?" He said walking to her. He stared at me, Mary and Gregory and laughed. "We don't usually serve your crowd here, but I guess I'm feeling generous today."

Jane ordered a beer and waited while Mary looked around, nervous with all the attention she was getting. Whoever said monsters didn't go after daughters of Aphrodite had never walked into a filthy pub with one.

"You nervous or something?" The barman asked me while pouring Jane's beer. I shrugged and he caught a glimpse of Perseus' blade on my belt. I guess that would be enough to scare him, but his eyes widened and he opened a horrible toothless smile. He served Jane's beer and, as she reached for the glass, he held her right arm and pulled up the sleeve, revealing her birthmark.

"I knew you all were something else the moment you stepped in here. Fair will be happy with me!" He held Jane to the counter while eight other men closed in on us coming from everywhere in the pub. We tried to fight them off, but they got to us before we could reach for our weapons. Soon enough we were disarmed and being held by big, bad smelling criminals who seemed too ugly to be real.

"Goodnight, golden fish!" I heard one of them saying, before punching me on the head and getting me unconscious.

I got to say it, I was getting really tired of being knocked out. I opened my eyes and saw I was tied down. Again. This time to a chair. I struggled with the ropes while making a promise to myself of never allowing someone to get me unconscious ever again.

Tied to chairs beside me were Jane, Mary and Gregory. The latter just rolled his eyes and whined about how we shouldn't have walked into the pub and how Jane and I were going to get him killed for nothing and so on, so on.

"Gods, just shut your mouth!" Mary snapped finally. Gregory looked at her startled and swallowed dry.

I looked around to see where we were. It was a small dark room, with walls covered by oak and books. A long and fancy desk lied before us, with an extremely pale man standing up behind it, beside a huge black chair that was turned the other way, making it impossible to know if there was someone sitting there or not.

"If I could have your attention, please," The man said in a high pitched voice, giving me chills at every syllable he pronounced. "You all have been brought before the mighty Fair, with whom you have business to settle, otherwise you would not be here."

"Gods, so Fair really exists?" Jane asked, sounding a little bit too excited for someone who was tied to a chair against her will.

"Who's Fair?" Mary asked.

The man rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, but I talked before he could.

"It's this mythical figure who is said to own and control pretty much all of London's criminal activities. Nobody knows who he is or what he looks like."

"If you don't know what he looks like, how do you know he's a he?" The huge chair span, revealing a deadly beautiful girl. She was about our age, had flawless pale skin and black hair. Her cold dark eyes stared at us while a mischievous grin appeared on her face.

"Who the hell are you?" Gregory asked, fighting against the ropes, fury burning behind his eyes. He actually looked a lot like me when I looked at him. "You have no idea who you're messing with, you have no idea who my father is."

The girl chuckled and laid back on the chair, amused at the situation.

"'You don't know who my father is', what an interesting choice of words. I guess I can say the same. As for who I am, haven't you heard of me already? Well, perhaps the lack of physical description might be puzzling you, so please allow me to introduce myself," She got up and walked around the desk so she could stand before us. "I was hoping you'd guess my name, but oh well. Pleased to meet you, I'm Fair."

Her eyes went from Gregory to me and she smirked.

"But since we're all family here, you can call me Lucy," She raised the sleeve on her right forearm, revealing a three headed dog shaped birthmark. "I've been waiting a long time to meet you two, cousins."


	10. Sympathy For The Devil

Chapter 10

Sympathy For The Devil

Gregory's electric eyes burned at the sight of Lucy's birthmark. The son of Zeus fought against the ropes that bounded him to the chair, while Lucy just smirked with amusement at the whole situation. She glanced at me and arched her eyebrow.

"He's just as stupid as I imagined him, cousin," She said. "You although surprises me. You don't look tense at all, Jack Brown, son of Poseidon."

My eyes widened as I wondered how she knew my name. She read my expression and shrugged.

"I have my sources. I've been looking for you for quite some time now, Jack. I knew Gregory here was at Camp Half-Blood, but the son of Poseidon was still at large, probably unaware of whom he really was. Unfortunately, you got to them before I could get to you."

Lucy nodded her head and a guard approached me, a knife in his hand and a thirst for blood in his eyes. He stopped before me and I closed my eyes, expecting the worst. A swish of the blade and the ropes that tied me fell on the stone floor. I got up and felt my legs hurt.

"A glass of water?" Lucy offered me, ordering another guard to serve me. The water pleased my soul, making all the pain go away. I took a deep breath and looked at Lucy in the eye, the amusement smirk still on her face.

"So you are a daughter of Hades?" I asked.

"It's great to meet you too, cousin." She said, ordering the guards to free Mary and Jane, but not Gregory. He grunted at her, his face red with anger.

"Sending sorcerers to capture me is not really the best way to start a friendship." I said, helping Mary stand on her feet. Lucy's cold eyes went from me to her.

"I have a hard time staying away from unorthodox methods, I admit," She said. "But I was desperate. Word between the gods was that the son of Poseidon had fled to America with his mother. I was starting to lose hope of finding you."

Her cold eyes melted before me, gradually turning warm and caring. Before I could notice, I had lowered my defenses.

"Why were you after me?" I asked.

Lucy blinked and touched my shoulder.

"I needed someone I could trust. Someone with the power to do something about it. Jack, something really bad is about to happen and I need your help to stop it."

Gregory let out a sarcastic laugh. "Don't fall for her words, Jack. Deception and manipulation are in her blood. Yes, something bad is about to happen, but she has no interest in stopping it. Don't believe her lies."

Lucy rolled her eyes and ignored Gregory.

"Jack, I need to speak to you in private."

Without waiting, she walked out of the room through a heavy iron side door, leaving it opened behind her. I swallowed dry and started walking toward it, when Gregory tried to stop me.

"Jack, remember what happened at camp. Remember all the people who lost their lives in last night's attack, think of all the ones who barely made it. You can't trust her, Jack. You can't trust Hades."

I looked at him and said nothing before walking out of the room, feeling Mary and Jane's worried eyes on my back. I stepped into a dark narrow alley submerged in the shadows of the night that reigned absolute. Lucy gasped beside me, looking almost invisible in the dark. She stepped under the moonlight and my heart froze. She was as beautiful as the night.

"I know you hate the son of Zeus," She started. "Just like his father, he is blinded by his arrogance. To him his truth is the only truth. Jack, you can either trust me or not. But if I were to kill all of you, I would have already done it. Look, I know my father is planning to dethrone Zeus. Gods, it's only what he's been doing for the last few millennia. I care for him or any of the gods as much as they care about you and me. Not being allowed in Camp Half-Blood made me grow with a different point of view. To the gods, we are just a disposable new batch of kids they can use in their own disputes of power."

"Did your father tell you about his plans?" I asked.

Lucy rolled her eyes and laughed. "Oh, trust me, he knows better. Besides, I would be useless to him. He needs someone inside the system, someone in Camp Half-Blood. This is why I wanted to get to you before they could. Before you made friends there and that clouded your judgment."

"Are you saying someone inside the camp is working with Hades?"

"This isn't an opinion, Jack. It's a fact. I know how these things work, I know how my father thinks."

A loud bang sounded from inside Lucy's office. She quickly opened the iron door and we stepped back into the room. The smell of gun powder impregnated the room, Gregory remained tied down in his chair, while Mary and Jane hid behind Lucy's desk.

"There you are, the mysterious Fair!" A man carrying a rifle shouted. He wore expensive clothes and his mad eyes were fixated on me. "You thought you could outsmart me, deceive me into destroying my own business? You're a new blood into this, Fair. My family's been running this city for decades before you were born."

The man was accompanied by three drunken guards carrying guns and blades. He nodded to one of his guards and he grabbed Lucy by the arm, forcing her to kneel down on the floor and aiming the rifle to her head.

"No, please! Please, don't kill me, sir!" She screamed, stopping between sentences to wink at me.

"Silent, whore!" The first man shouted, before turning back to me. "You give us access to your safe, to all your money and documents or she'll die, along with everyone in this room. I'm going to count to three. One."

Lucy smirked in amusement, while taking off a ring she wore on her right middle finger.

"Two."

She closed her eyes.

"Three!"

The guard started pushing the trigger when the floor cracked around him, swallowing his leg up till his knee. Another crack as the floor closed around his member, turning the bones into dust. The other men stood in shock while the guard screamed in horror. Lucy got up and removed her ring, that turned into a dark bladed sword in her hand. In a few precise movements, she killed the other two guards and stabbed their leader in the stomach.

"You and your family ruled for too long," She whispered in his ear while he screamed in terror. "This city has a new queen now and she doesn't live in Buckingham Palace."

The man's eyes widened as he realized who Fair really was. Lucy twisted her dark sword inside of him and he gave his last breath, before falling dead in the middle of the room. Blood painted the floor red as Lucy got up, turned her sword back into a ring and put it in her finger.

"Sorry, about that," She said, looking at me, Mary and Jane. "Anyone fancy a drink?"

We came back to the now empty Devil's pub, Lucy's guards watching every movement of our hands. The daughter of Hades drank an entire glass of beer in one sip and burped before turning to us, her face completely ignoring the grunts of Gregory, who was still tied down to his chair in the office.

"Why won't you release him?" Mary asked, doing her best not to sound threatening.

"Ah, I'm just playing with him. Busting his balls for a bit. You know, it's a cousin thing." Lucy answered, chuckling childishly. "So, where are you four heading with your big quest to preserve Olympus?"

Jane, Mary and I stood silent and exchanged a few looks. Truth was, we had no idea. The job assigned to us was to simply get to London, after that we were on our own. I cleared my throat and tried to come up with something, when Lucy started laughing.

"Oh gods, you have no idea, do you?" She said, signaling to a guard to refill her glass of beer. "What a lousy quest leader that son of Zeus."

"He's not the leader." I said instinctively. "We don't know if the prophecy was directed at me or him."

"As predictable as the four seasons the gods are. The prophecy came like that so both of you had to come in the quest." Lucy said. I widened my eyes and she shrugged. "Politics, cousin. You should start learning too."

"Gregory wanted us to go to Olympus and stand guard." Jane said, while chewing a large piece of meat. She and Mary accepted the feast Lucy offered us, but I was too tense to eat anything.

"He does know that Olympus is under a total lockdown because of the moving process, no? If you go there the only thing you'll see are the marble and gold doors." Lucy said.

"He didn't mention anything about a lockdown." I said, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, what does it matter? We're just going to stand guard, no? We don't have to be inside." Mary said, trying to defend her _boyfriend_. Ugh, I lost the very last bit of appetite I had in me.

"True, but Zeus' lockdown won't stop my father. If you want to have any chance of stopping him, you must be inside, close to the throne room, the gods power behind you. And if you stand by the door, with nowhere to run, he and his army of the dead will crush you with ease. It actually sounds more like a trap to me." Lucy stopped and pondered, before speaking again. "There are, let's say, alternative ways though. I don't know them myself, but I might know of someone who does."

"What do you mean?"

"Legend tells of secret passageways Aphrodite had built, connecting Olympus to the mortal world, to facilitate the comings and goings of her lovers."

Mary rolled her eyes. "Sounds like mom."

"You could get us the location of those passageways?" I asked, leaning forward, to where Lucy seated.

"I could call in some favors," She said, smiling, before getting up. "Come, better not waste time. I hope you had a good night of sleep. We're in for a treat."

"I swear when this is over, I will sleep for five days straight." Jane said, while we got up to follow Lucy back into the office. The daughter of Hades approached the chair where Gregory was tied down and looked him in the eye.

"Any funny business, cousin, any at all, and I'm sending you to my father's kingdom for all eternity." She cut him loose and Gregory got up, losing the balance on his numb legs for a second.

"I'm not going to say anything, princess of darkness. But I'll be watching you."

Lucy rolled her eyes and chuckled, while returning to us our swords. "Princess of darkness? How do you come up with this stuff?" My fingers touched the cable of Perseus' blade with love, they missed each other a lot.

"Where are we going?" Mary asked.

"Visiting an old friend of your mother's," Lucy said, opening the black iron side door. "And going for a little swim."

We walked out in the warm summer night of London, the Palace of Westminster, and Mount Olympus, in the distance at our right, shining under the moonlight, while we headed south, towards the bank of the River Thames.

The great river that cut London in north and south halves was calm as always that night, quietly going with the flow while the city of tomorrow raged all around it. I looked down at the bottom of the river, remembering that last Wednesday a couple of days ago, when I began to know who I really was. I could say more had happened in those few days since then, than it had in my entire life.

We were standing at the bank of the river for hours now. Lucy, calm and serene, told us to wait a little bit more. I looked down at the water again, trying to see what were we waiting for. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the calm river. Man, I had never looked so beautiful. The reflection winked at me and I almost fell backwards.

Lucy stared at me and sighed. "Finally!"

The calm water suddenly started revolting on itself, a huge whirlpool rising upwards, creating the image of a beautiful transparent skinned girl with white hair that glowed under the moonlight. She opened her big blue eyes and laughed.

"Leaving the almighty Fair waiting has made my day. How are you, Lucy? Long time, no see." The water lady said, ignoring the other four of us completely.

"I am great, tired though, thank you very much," Lucy said, turning to us. "This is old Lady Thames, the river naiad. Late as usual."

The naiad's eyes shifted to me and I recognized something familiar on them, like an echo from an old dream. She analyzed me and chuckled.

"You snore while sleeping, did you know, son of Poseidon?"

Everyone turned to me. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I watched you sleeping last Wednesday. Always so hurried the children of the big three. You didn't even knew who you were and you were already trying to sleep at the bottom of the river."

Behind me, I heard Gregory grunting, getting on everyone's nerves. Since we met with Lucy, the prince had become extra-annoying. At least to me.

"I thought we were going to ask one of Aphrodite lovers for the secret passageways into Olympus. What are we doing here?" He said, turning to Lucy, who, I could see, was starting to really lose her patience towards our cousin.

"And what do you think we are doing here, genius?"

I arched an eyebrow and looked at the sea dryad, then at Mary who shrugged.

"Mom likes to experiment different things." She explained.

Lady Thames licked her lips and winked at Mary.

"You should do like your mommy, young rose. I can help you with that if you want." Mary blushed like a tomato and chuckled nervously, hiding herself behind Jane, who took a step to the side, exposing the daughter of Aphrodite to the naiad again.

"Anyway, you once needed my help, Lady Thames, and I helped you didn't I?" Lucy said, crossing her arms, starting to do what she does best. "Those illegal industries never again dumped their waste in your river, am I right?"

"Yes, Lucy, you're right. Gods, what happened to doing favors just because you like people? So you want one of the secret paths to Olympus that Lady Aphrodite uses?" The naiad said, looking eager to put an end to that as soon as possible.

"Yes, Lady Thames, thank you in advance." Lucy said.

The naiad rolled her eyes. "The well on the 23rd street, just a few hundred meters north of the Westminster's clock tower," Lady Thames started to dissolve back into the river. "And a word of advice? Don't eat much before going in it."

A sound like rain falling echoed in the river and the naiad was one with her Thames once again.

"I don't trust this, it's a trap. We can't trust Lucy, people. Remember what happened in Camp! Remember all the ones who lost their lives!" Gregory started saying, his right hand coming dangerously close to his sword.

Lucy's expression closed and the floor cracked between the legs of the son of Zeus, threatening to throw him straight down to the Underworld. The daughter of Hades slowly came close to Gregory and her voice sounded determined.

"I don't want to kill you, but you are starting to give me no choice."

Ground and thunder cracked at the same time as the tension between the cousins started to grow. Gregory smirked presumptuously and walked away giving his back to Lucy. She grunted and did the same, walking back alone to the Devil's pub.

"You three go," Gregory said, without looking at us. "I don't want to be around her any longer. Tomorrow morning we go for the secret passageway."

"Where are you going?" Mary asked, as Gregory started walking away from us, strolling through the night with no apparent destination. The son of Zeus ignored her and just kept walking until he was nowhere to be seen.

Mary stared at the moon before looking at me, her beautiful brown eyes sparkling like the stars in the sky. Without saying a word we started walking back to the Devil's pub.

"It's like I'm stuck in the middle of a fucking Shakespeare play, gods." I heard Jane whispering to herself. I swallowed dry and felt Mary walking slowly behind me, her breath, her smell, her presence attracting me to her like the twilight to the night.

As far as I was concerned, the plot of the love triangle was about to thicken even more.


	11. Stairway To Heaven

Chapter 11

Stairway To Heaven

The mansion wall-to-wall with the Devil's Pub was Lucy's home, a four story high, brown bricked house with dozens of windows looking out to the Palace of Westminster and the River Thames. Each of us was assigned to a room more luxurious than any place I had ever been in. I laid Perseus' sword on the white nightstand and stared at the perfectly done bed with white silk sheets and goose feathered pillows. It seemed so clean and pure that I was afraid to touch it, let alone lie on it.

After a few minutes sitting on a Louis XIV chair, I was defeated by exhaustion and crashed on the celestial bed. The sheets and pillows received me like the arms of a beautiful girl and I felt in heaven, falling asleep as soon as I took the first breath with my eyes closed.

A sweet perfume filled my lungs as I breathed again, massaging all my inside organs with care, making all the pain, all the stress go away. That new sense of well being made me open my eyes and enjoy the moment for minutes, before focusing my sight and jumping on the bed. I was in a room covered by red walls and white candles, laying alone in a circled bed, on top of dozens of red and pink heart-shaped pillows.

I got up, rose petals covering the white marble floor everywhere in the gigantic room. Forget what I said before about never being in a place as luxurious as Lucy's house, that place made her home look like my tiny room at the back of Mr. Hedge's library.

"Hello, Jack." Said a voice that made my body tremble from head to toe. I turned around and standing there was simply the most drop-dead gorgeous vision I had ever had. For a second, I thought it was Mary. The same big lips and sparkling brown eyes, but then I started recognizing other traits in her face, faded memories of girls that had captured my affection in the past. The woman smiled and I recognized in her flawless cheeks the same cute dimples Jane had when she laughed.

I tried to speak, but the words were stuck in my throat as if they were the size of a battleship. The woman laughed and the sound of it made my knees lose strength.

"You have no reason to be shy around me, Jack. Not you, who always had women fighting over you since you were a little boy. Even I am powerless against Poseidon's dazzling green eyes."

She sat on a white and gold couch, spreading her long red dress around her, capturing the attention of the entire world. I unconsciously sat on the couch in front of her and stared at every single detail about her. The rose in her light brown hair snapped me out of my trance. Suddenly, everything made sense.

"You're Aphrodite," I said. "Mary's mom."

The goddess nodded and laughed.

"I've been called many things in my life, but I like 'Mary's mom'." She winked at me and suddenly her eyes were green like my own. "My baby girl is beautiful isn't she? Sweet like her father. He was the Governor of the Caribbean Islands when we met. Ugh, I miss the beach. I love London, but this weather could be a little better."

I swallowed dry and stared at my hands, I touched the couch stuffing and felt it perfectly between my fingers.

"Is this real?" I asked.

Aphrodite arched an eyebrow and thought. "Hmmm… Think of it as an erotic dream. It's real while you're in it. And sometimes a dream can give you more pleasure than real life."

My throat went dry. "So this is a dream?"

The goddess of love rolled her eyes and chuckled. "You won't let this go, will you, Jack? Yes, this is a dream. But it doesn't mean that I am not here, talking to you. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "No."

"Well, you don't need to, what's important is that you understand of what we're going to talk about here. Your heart." She pointed at my chest and I felt my heartbeat accelerate rapidly.

"What about it?" I said, instinctively, trying to catch my breath.

"Well, don't you realize yet, Jack? You are kind of divided." Aphrodite smirked and I thought of Mary. The resemblance was incredible. Then I noticed Jane's adorable dimples on her cheeks, and her green eyes carrying a well known sparkle of intensity. "Do you see? My baby girl is gorgeous, I know, she can distract any man. But the reason why you haven't realized this, Jack, it's because she has always been there beside you, always accompanying you, ready to take a life to protect you."

I widened my eyes and felt a hole in my chest. Aphrodite was right, something was missing. She was always there with me, always watching over me, always beside me. A knot closed my throat and my heart speeded like a Pegasus in the sky.

"Jane. How did you… How did you know?" I said.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "They call me the goddess of love for a reason, Jack."

I still couldn't believe in what my own heart was telling me. I was so busy admiring Mary's beauty, that I didn't even notice how much I missed Jane when we were apart.

"I can understand what you see in her, Jack. Her father does the same with me. All that intensity, the fire in their eyes. It just makes you feel so alive." The goddess of love closed her eyes and bit her lip. The sight of it made my entire body burn and, before I could realize, I was covering my lap with a pillow.

Aphrodite looked at it and chuckled. "You don't have to hide it from me, honey, I'm used to it. Well, I'd be worried if you weren't hard." She winked and threw her hair back.

"The reason why I brought you here, Jack, is because a divided heart is a sad heart. A man can love two women, but he can only truly love one. The destiny of all of this you see, of the entire Olympus, of all the gods, lie in your hands, son of Poseidon. And I don't want you to fail just because your heart wasn't in the right place. I'm here to help you."

"All you did till now was make me more confused." I said, scratching my head.

"Your heart was already confused, honey. I only realized you of it." Aphrodite shrugged. "And that is all I can do for you, unfortunately. I did what I had to do, now it's up to you and your heart to decide. What's it going to be? My daughter's unparalleled beauty and charm, or the daughter of Ares' intensity and loyalty?," She got up, took off the rose in her hair and offered it to me. "Whatever you decide, just be sure to listen to your heart. Be sure that it is where it truly belongs."

I touched the red petals of the rose and suddenly everything was blackness. For a second, it was as if my consciousness was lost in the emptiness, detached from my body. Then all I could see was the tester of the large four-poster bed in Lucy's mansion, the silk sheets and pillows all around me. I looked over to the window and saw a fading light on the horizon. Could it be that I had awaken with the sunrise? But we came back from seeing Lady Thames at almost 6 in the morning. Only after a few minutes I realized that I was looking west, not east.

I sat in bed and felt the weight in my head, result of sleeping with the sunlight on my face. I got up, put on my boots and strapped Perseus' sword to my belt, before rushing out of the room and down the long and tall corridor that ended in the dining room.

"Good afternoon, sunshine." Jane said, her mouth full of bread. "We've been expecting you since we woke up, thirty minutes ago."

I looked at her and my heart sank, sitting beside her on the bed was Mary, watching me with her brown eyes while eating soup. She smiled at me at the same time that Jane did and I felt as if my heart was going to explode in two pieces.

"We slept all day," I said, trying to distract myself. "Where's Lucy? Gregory?"

I sat on the table in front of them and focused my attention on the feast served before me. There was enough meat, turkey and fruits on the table to keep me fed for an entire month. Jane shrugged and I looked at the mountain of food on her plate.

"According to the maids, Lady Fair goes to _work_ as soon as the sun rises. As for prince charming, no sign of him." Jane's fiery green eyes focused on my face and I tried to restrain my cheeks from blushing.

"Aren't you worried about Gregory?" I asked Mary, who seemed to be in a trance, staring at her soup. She snapped out of it, looked at me and smiled.

"What? Oh, no. It's okay, he can handle it on his own."

"It's weird though. I mean, what was he doing all this time?" I said, trying to focus my mind on something other than Jane's breasts and Mary's lips.

"He's probably sleeping, like all of us. I had such a good time sleeping, by the way. What about you, Jack?" Jane asked.

"Weird dreams." I said quickly, before returning my attention to the food before me.

After a brief silence, Mary sighed and Jane grunted in reaction.

"What is it, you miss your prince?" She asked, rolling her eyes at the daughter of Aphrodite, who stared sadly at the roasted turkey in the middle of the magnificent table.

"No, I don't. Not one single bit." Mary said, distracted. "That's what worries me."

Jane put as much food on her plate as she could and got up, her eyes going from Mary to me. "You guys depress me. Seriously. I'm going to eat by the window."

Jane got off the table and sat on a luxurious chair near the window, the sunset light making her hair shine in an orange flare, almost as if her head was surrounded by a bright flame as intense as the Aries blood that ran in her veins. My heart pounded against my chest. I've always known Jane was a beautiful girl, but that much? I wondered how I could have been so blind.

"Jack…" Mary's voice whispered, I turned to face her and saw a sublime sadness in her eyes.

"What is it?"

Her eyes moved, as if she was looking for something in my gaze.

"Nothing." She said, sadly, before returning to the food on her plate. I took a deep breath and sighed. Aphrodite was right, a divided heart is a sad heart.

The night took over the sky and Lucy appeared in the mansion, ready to come with us to the well on the 23rd street north of the Palace of Westminster, where Lady Thames told us was the entrance to one of Aphrodite's secret passageways to Olympus.

"Where's the son of Zeus?" Lucy asked when we mounted Ace and Cherry.

"No sign of him." I said, holding my breath while Jane wrapped her arms around me.

Lucy, who was mounted behind Mary, looked worried at the full moon above us.

"I thought you didn't care for the prince." Jane said. Lucy looked at her and shrugged.

"I don't." She said, trying to hide something I couldn't figure out. "That's a nice Pegasus you two got there, by the way. Where did you find him?" She looked at us with a playful smirk on her face.

"Sorry." I said, stroking Ace's neck. Lucy smiled and chuckled.

"Don't worry. Let's just say he's your early Christmas present, cousin."

I smiled and we galloped through the night, Cherry and Ace racing vigorously toward the 23rd street. The shadows in the corners and alleys of the city seemed thicker and darker that night, and I immediately knew that something was off.

"This is going to be a long night." I heard Jane whispering behind me. More than that, it would be a night that would never end.

We arrived at our destination, twenty minutes after we left Lucy's mansion. The 23rd street was one of the many merchant streets of London, surrounded by nothing but commerce on either sides of pavement. I could see why Aphrodite picked that place to hide her secret passageway – at night the street was completely deserted.

We got off the pegasi and circled the large stone well. It seemed just as common as any other well in England, except for a little detail that went by unnoticed by most people.

"Guys, look." Mary said, pointing at a stone block at the top of the well. It was carved with the shape of a rose. "My mother's symbol. This is it."

Lucy leaned forward to look into the well and sighed. "Not a big fan of water. Jack, you want to go first?"

I looked at her, Mary and Jane and shrugged. The first, the last, it wouldn't make any difference. I prepared myself to dive into the well when a voice sounded from the darkness.

"It's a wise choice. This entrance was designed for a being of the water, something tells me only a child of Poseidon could bear to open it." Gregory emerged from a dark alley, his white clothes and silver armor stained with dirt, as if he had lain down in the street.

Beside me, Lucy narrowed her eyes. "How long have you been here? Did you try to open the passageway by yourself?" She said, pointing at the son of Zeus' wet boots.

We all looked at him and he seemed surprised. "What? This is nothing! Don't let her play with your minds, she only wants to turn you against me. Believe her and we're doomed, Olympus is doomed!"

"Where were you all day, huh?" Lucy said, standing closer to him, her chin raised in defiance.

"Trying to stay away from you, hellhound!" He screamed on her face. Lucy closed her eyes with fury and removed her ring, making the dark bladed sword appear in her right hand.

"You are getting on my nerve, Gregory." She whispered in a terrifying way. Thunder cracked the night and Gregory smirked.

"I want to see you try, Lucy Fair." He said, pulling out his sword. They were raising their weapons when I got between them.

"You two, stop! This is not the time!" I said, my head turning from Lucy to Gregory. "We have a job to do here, a job that is more important than you, than me, than any of us. So please, let's focus!"

After seconds, Lucy was the first to put her sword away. "You're right, Jack. Let's do this."

Gregory stared at me and Lucy and lowered his sword, watching in silence as I prepared to go down the well. I looked at the dark water and took a deep breath. Not that I'd need it, but it was a force of habit. I jumped inside the well and fell for almost ten meters, before diving inside the cold and soothing water. Swimming down, I quickly reached the bottom of the well, using my hands to try to find something in the darkness, some type of switch that would open the passageway.

After almost 5 minutes, my fingers touched a brick with carving on it. Using the tip of my fingers, I felt what seemed like the shape of a rose. Sure that I had found the switch, I pressed the brick with all my strength. A click echoed in the water as the brick was pushed inside the wall and I felt something pushing my ankle.

And then total disorientation. I couldn't see or hear anything while a strong force pulled by the ankle in great speed, going down, then up, then forward, then up again. I opened my arms and felt stone walls covered by water around me. After minutes, I saw myself being thrown out of the water and falling harshly on a stone floor.

Completely dry, I looked around. I was in some type of underground temple. Greek columns and statues were all around me, torches illuminating the place, making me feel as if I had been sucked back to ancient Greece, given the perfect state of the monuments around me. In one of the walls, huge marble doors with the shape of a rose carved in the middle stood before me like two giants. I came closer and touched the cold marble. The gigantic doors slowly opened sideways, making a loud noise of stone sliding on stone.

After some time, I was able to see what was on the other side – a large spiral stair, made of white marble, that went as high as the eye could see.

"Woah." I whispered to myself. Before turning back to the water and waiting for the others to arrive. It didn't take much time, after a few minutes, I saw Jane being thrown out of the water and onto the stone. She coughed violently as water poured out of her mouth. I ran over to her and tried to help her, but she got up before I could do anything.

"That was fun." She said, coughing furiously, gasping desperately for air. In less than a minute, the other three appeared beside us, first Lucy, then Mary and for last Gregory. They all needed some minutes to recover from the ride. I guess holding your breath for minutes while being violently pulled in all directions wasn't exactly easy for other demigods.

After some time, we seemed to be ready to move on.

"My gods," Lucy said, staring at the endless staircase. "The road to Olympus at last. My father would be proud."

"Yes, he will be proud."

Before I could do anything, my knees went numb and I fell on the floor, my entire body tensed and hurting. I heard steps near my head and a chuckle that made all the hair in my body stand up.

"Thank you for the help, Jack, ladies." Gregory said, going toward the staircase. "Got to be sure Lord Hades finds the door open when he gets to Olympus tonight."

My mind raced in confusion. Gregory? What was happening? Beside me, I heard Lucy struggling to whisper something. I looked at her in time to see her using her last energies to talk to me.

"I… Always… Knew." She managed to say, before closing her eyes and passing out because of the electric shock that Gregory unleashed on us. Behind me, I could feel Mary and Jane completely inert on the ground.

The son of Zeus approached me and pulled me by the hair, but I didn't feel any pain. He kneeled on the ground and whispered in my ear.

"I win, Jack."

And that is the last thing I remember before falling unconscious, exhausted by the power of Gregory's lightning.


	12. Two Minutes To Midnight

Chapter 12

Two Minutes To Midnight

I woke up with three pairs of eyes looking down at me. Their colors: hazel, green and black. I tried moving my arms but my muscles were inoperable. My head seemed to weigh a ton while a merciless headache kept my mind from interpreting what my eyes saw. For an entire minute I stared at the three faces around me, their expressions carried away by fear and terror.

When something hit me. Hard. Really hard.

"Wake up, Jack! Hell is breaking loose here!" Jane shouted, after slapping my face without regrets. I felt like I had just kissed a racing Pegasus. With a snap everything came back to me. Gregory. It was Gregory all along.

I tried to sit up but my body was in ruins, completely paralyzed by the pain induced by the traitor's lightning. "Wathu!" I gasped to them, my tongue feeling numb in my mouth. "Wathu!"

Without hesitating, the girls dragged my inert carcass and threw me in the water. The cold and dark liquid aided my body, penetrating my system, alleviating all the pain, all the pressure. My mind started to focus, my muscles to respond. In one move I jumped out of the water and landed beside the girls, completely dry, my body responding to my commands once again.

"How long was I out?" I asked, staring at them.

"We have no idea." Lucy said. "We were unconscious too, it could've been minutes or hours for all that we know."

"We have to get out of here, we have to get to Olympus." I said, already moving toward the white marble staircase. My legs stopped as I looked at the crumbled wall of rocks that stood before me, exactly where the giant doors used to be.

"Do you really think it was going to be that easy, Jack? Gregory got us by the balls." Jane said, folding her arms and sighing.

I looked at Mary and she looked down. I could see the shame in her face.

"Did you have any idea? Mary, did he tell you anything?"

Her eyes watered as she gasped for air. "He… I… He was weird, of course he was, everyone could see that. For a year now, he was weird with me, he's been different. It felt almost as if he wasn't there anymore. But I… I could never even think about this. Betraying his own father? I… I still can't believe it."

"You couldn't have known," Lucy said, comforting Mary. "He played us all."

"What about you?" I asked the daughter of Hades. "You knew, didn't you?"

She glanced at me with her pitch black eyes. "I knew my father had someone inside Camp Half-Blood. That is why I wanted to get to you before they could. I couldn't trust anyone that came from the camp. The moment I saw Gregory, I could see that he was hiding something. And then he started trying to turn you all against me and my suspicions became clear," She sighed. "I should've done something before, but I couldn't lose your trust. If I had done anything drastic and Gregory got away with it, there'd be no more hope."

I nodded and took a deep breath, for a minute letting all the darkness around me penetrate my soul. Fear blinding my sight, muting my thoughts. For all that we knew, Hades could already be king of the gods by now.

"Guys, what are we doing?" Jane shouted, breaking the silence between us. "This isn't over yet! We have to get to Olympus now! Let's gut the friggin' prince!"

Jane's call for battle put sense in my head once again. I breathed and felt my chest filled with courage again, in my belt, Perseus' blade called for my grasp.

"We need to stop Hades before he gets to the gates of Olympus. We may not be able to get in now, but we can stop him before he gets there. Lucy, any idea from where he's going to attack?"

Lucy chuckled and smiled. "The front gates. My father may be obsessed with overthrowing his brother, but he's an honorable warrior. He will march into Olympus through the front door. That's why he needed Gregory to open it for him."

"That leaves us one place to go then…" I started saying, before being cut out by Mary, who positioned herself before us, her entire body tense, her muscles begging for revenge.

"The Palace of Westminster. Jack," She turned to me. "It's time to know if you and Ace can keep up with Cherry and I. If you do it, we can get to the parliament in less than a minute."

I arched an eyebrow in defiance. "It's on." I said, before jumping on the water and looking for the switch that would take us back up. I pressed the stone block marked with a rose and was dragged by the ankle, going down, up, to the side, and then up again. Suddenly I was flying in the air, before hitting the floor hard, after being shot out of the well in the 23rd street like a cannonball. I heard Ace and Cherry neigh close to me.

"_Master Jack! You're finally back!"_

"How long did I take?" I asked him, staring at the dark sky. It was still night, that was a good sign.

"_Little less than an hour!"_

A few seconds later, Lucy, Mary and Jane were shot out of the well even worse than me. "Stupid secret passageway!" Jane grunted while getting up, racing toward me and Ace, hopping behind me on Ace.

"Everyone ready?" Mary asked, adjusting the last details for the flight. "This is going to be intense."

"Ace, you want to get it on with Cherry?" I whispered in his ear.

"_Quiet, Master Jack, that's a secret!"_

"Yeah, well, if you want it, then make her eat dust now. We have to get to Westminster quicker than lightning."

"_I like quicker than lightning!"_

With an impulse, Ace and Cherry got off the ground and prepared for the flight.

"Let's see what you two are made of." Mary said to me, before shooting out into the sky with Cherry.

Ace neighed and took off with a thunder. The wind blowing against me seemed to want to rip out my face and disintegrate it. I couldn't see what was going on around me. Jane's grip around my stomach was suffocating me. That was too fast.

And then, as quick as it started, it ended. I opened my eyes and we were standing in one of the roofs of the Palace, the monumental clock tower under construction rising before us. We were literally under Mount Olympus.

"That was good!" Mary said, hopping out of Cherry.

I got down from Ace and petted him. "Good job, mate. Now stay here, I don't want you two getting into trouble."

"_Good luck, Master Jack! We're counting on you!"_

"Thanks, buddy." I said, looking at Jane, Mary and Lucy. "We're going to need it."

With London spreading all around us, we raced to a tiny door that led us to a dark staircase. After going down for several floors, we ended up entering the central lobby of the palace. Previously called the octagonal room, because of its shape, it was gigantic and luxurious, covered by gold, religious paintings and statues of kings and prime ministers. The place was dark, the faded chandeliers projecting huge shadows on the gold covered walls.

"Keep your eyes open." I said, starting to move slowly into the room.

"Gods, what is this smell?" Jane cried. The lobby smelled like a cemetery.

"The smell of death." Lucy said, taking out her ring and turning it into her dark bladed sword. "He's here."

We started crossing the lobby, walking towards the large marble staircase that led to the houses of the parliament, when I saw a shadow moving with the corner of my eye. I froze instantly, paralyzed by a fear unlike anything I had ever felt before. I tried to make something out of the immense darkness before me, but I could see nothing else but blackness.

"Wait a minute, do you hear that?" Mary suddenly whispered.

"Hear what?"

"Something…" She stopped and paid close attention. "Breathing."

At the sound of her words I heard it. A muffled, constant noise. Inspiration and expiration. It slowly became louder. Fear turned my blood to ice as a hot breeze started touching the back of my head, carrying the smell of pure putrefaction.

"Holy mother of fuck!" Jane shouted, running away desperately. I turned around and all I saw were teeth. Fangs. Each one as big as myself. Fiery red eyes, thirsty for blood. It was staring at me. And then another one came, the same evil face and giant teeth, closing in on my left. And then another one on my right. Before me, in the dark, I could see only two paws. I looked up and swallowed dry, completely overwhelmed by shock.

I was alone, the girls had disappeared, the gigantic beast was focused only in me, as if I was his only target. He opened his jaws to bite me into pieces and suddenly time slowed down. I rolled through his giant legs, barely escaping his deadly fangs. I drew out Perseus' sword and got ready to cut his hind legs, but he was smart. He turned around and hit me with one of his heads. I flew through the room, hitting a marble statue of an old priest.

The three headed dog prepared to finish me when a voice sounded like thunder in the palace.

"BAD DOG!"

The beast trembled and cried, his dark expressions shifting into the one of a small dog, afraid of his master. He cried and I suddenly almost felt sorry for him. Lucy was coming toward him, her blade held up high.

"You do not eat my friends, Cerberus! Do you understand? No play time for you! Bad dog!" He cried and his six giant eyes asked for forgiveness.

"What took you so long? He almost ate me alive!" I shouted at Lucy who shrugged.

"Stop crying like a little girl, Jack, he's harmless. He only wanted to play with you," Her voice became louder and absolute. "Didn't you, Cerberus?"

The three heads of the hellhound nodded in the affirmative, his eyes looked at me and pleaded for forgiveness.

"Stay!" Lucy ordered Cerberus, before turning to face me. "Now, we must find the door to Olympus before my father arrives."

"What, he isn't here yet?" Jane asked, running back to where we were.

"No, he sent Cerberus before him so he could keep anyone away from the place. Right now, he's assembling his armies, going over his strategy. He'll be here any minute."

"Jack, you have hellhound drool on your back!" Mary said, taking two steps away from me. I took off my black jacket and threw it to Cerberus.

"Thank you very much, bonehead." The left head of the hellhound caught the jacket in mid-air and started strangling it merciless. What a nice little dog.

"Okay, now, quick, let's think!" I said. "Where can the entrance to Olympus be?"

"Oh, it's right there where you stand right now," Echoed a deep voice from the top of the stairs. "In that very spot, the tiled star in the center of the room's floor, where you can see the Royal Throne and the Speaker's Chair. That's where lies the entrance to Olympus, right in the center of British politics."

The great chandelier above us lighted up and we saw the whole majesty of the room. At the top of the stairs, stood a single man. He had long, curly hair, with a mix of black, white and silver colors that spread also throughout his long beard. He was dressed in a black suit, like a rich merchant and his smile was constantly ironic.

"Dad." Lucy sighed.

"Well, hello, pumpkin, didn't see you there. How's business?" Hades said, coming down till the middle of the steps.

"Dad, aren't you tired of this? Trying to overthrow Zeus one more time? Why don't you just accept your luck and try to take the best out of it?"

His expression remained amused, but his voice carried a deep tone of anger. "Because, my dear, that was no case of luck. My brothers set me up! Seduced by power, they exiled me to the depths of the world, to be hated and feared by men! I am only here to bring back to the people of the west what should've always been theirs."

He clapped his hand once and, all around us, shadows started to rise from the ground. First appeared empty armors, then weapons of all sorts and times. Wielding them were pale, almost invisible men, some with disfigured faces full of regrets and sadness.

"An army of the dead." I whispered to myself, swallowing dry. There were hundreds of them, circling us, trapping us in the center of the room.

"Indeed, nephew. What did you expect? The British navy?" Hades said, looking directly at me. "Well, I loved to catch up, but I got a very important appointment, so if you'll excuse me. Can't be late for my own coronation," He looked down at us and shrugged. "You chose your destiny. Now, if you could move a little bit…"

The dead warriors started to close in on us, trying to force us out of the entrance to Olympus. "We have to stand our ground!" I shouted. We assembled back-to-back and started fighting off the ghost warriors. But for every single one that "died", two more would appear before us.

"We won't make it!" Lucy screamed, the army almost burying us, desperate to make us one of them, when a loud bang made the entire palace tremble. Hades and the ghosts stopped fighting and raised their heads toward the entrance door that had been blasted away by explosives.

Through the dust and ashes, emerged dozens of warriors. The best in the world. Leading them were old friends of ours – Eric, son of Ares, Lenny and Penny of Hermes, and Virginia, daughter of Hephaestus. Behind them, the entire Camp Half-Blood, armed and ready for battle.

"Sorry for crashing your party, mates. But there's always room for a little bit more people," Lenny said, spinning his sword. "Did you miss us, Big Jack?"

I smiled as our friends from camp stormed into the battlefield, turning the place into a true mayhem. Lucy, Mary, Jane and I sided with them and charged against Hades' legions that, even though were dead already, were sent back to the underworld at a much more painful way after facing our blades and arrows.

"We got the message from Lucy a few hours ago saying you needed us!" Eric said when he got next to me. "We geared up and came out here as fast as we could."

Lucy, who was on my other side, smiled. "I hope you didn't mind."

I decapitated a ghost and looked at her. "I'm starting to love you, cousin."

The phantom army was no match for the campers. I watched as transparent bodies were mutilated, thrown in the air and beaten to re-death all around the central lobby. Beside me, I saw Jane jumping, and stabbing a tall roman officer in the carotid, just like she had done with the Cyclops who tried to eat her when we first met.

"Not as fun without the blood." She said in a sad voice.

Hades kept summoning more and more legions but, in a matter of minutes, they were all gone, back to where they never should've left.

"We are draining my father's powers," Lucy told me, while trying to gasp for air. "He can summon only a certain amount of souls before feeling weak and, if he wants his plan to succeed, he can't face Zeus weakened."

The ghosts stopped coming. We and the campers kept our ground right on top of the spot that was the entrance to Olympus. From the stairs, Hades stared at us with rage in his dark eyes.

"Friggin' children!" He shouted. "I am not used to killing demigods, but you are starting to blow off my patience!"

"Not used to killing demigods? What about the six of us that lost their lives in the attack of your hellhounds a couple days ago?" I screamed back, feeling more powerful, as if every single person behind me was lending me some of their strength.

"Shut up, you fool!" Hades started coming down the steps. "Don't let Christian dogma mess with your head, boy. There are no good and evil spectrums in our world. I am not the devil. Death is a part of life and I respect that more than anything. I'd never unleash such a coward attack on my rivals' children just to get to them."

"I know him," Lucy said, on my right. "My father may be obsessed with getting even with Zeus and Poseidon, but he is not evil. I always doubted he had anything to do with that attack."

"But if it wasn't him, then who was it?" As I spoke the words, it started become clear in my head.

"He hates all of you, he hates my brother, he hates everything that the gods represent," Hades started. "Only someone inside the camp could've summoned my hellhounds like that and only one person had access to my dogs and to Camp Half-Blood."

I swallowed dry. "Are you telling me that Gregory did it? He unleashed the hellhounds against his own friends?"

Behind me, I could hear gasps of shock and denial. It wasn't easy to believe that a guy you knew for years could do something like that. Close to me I saw all the color disappear from Mary's face.

"Gregory has no friends. Gregory is incapable of loving, of caring. I've dealt with a lot of demigods like him in my time. First they start angry, frustrated and afraid. But in no time they become careless, cruel and brutal. He knows no limits now. Every single feeling he ever showed was a lie." Hades ranted.

Tears started rolling down Mary's face. I closed my fists with anger, my nails penetrating the flesh of my palms. Hades started coming closer, walking toward me. He touched my shoulder and stared into the eyes of every single one of us.

"Worry not, nephew," He said, his voice seducing and caring. "Once this is all done, he shall be punished. He will pay for his crimes. You can trust me."

My heart raced in anger and I, for a split second, thought about letting Hades pass. But then my chest exploded. The sound of Mary's weep, the faces of the friends and colleagues all around me. They were the first people who accepted me as who I am, who made me feel as if I belonged somewhere. And Gregory betrayed them. He stabbed them in the back. I didn't give a fuck anymore about Olympus, Hades or Zeus.

I only cared about making Gregory pay.

"No." I said, giving a step back away from Hades. "You will stay right here, as will everyone else."

"What are you doing?" Jane asked me as I positioned myself in the middle of the star tiled on the ground of the lobby. I didn't answer.

"He's going to get Gregory!" Someone yelled in the crowd. People cheered, offering me their trust and support.

I was about to say 'to Olympus' when Lucy stepped into the star with me.

"If you are going to face him, I'm going with you. He could survive one of us, but against both he's hopeless."

After her, Jane stood beside us. "And I'm not letting you go anywhere without me, Jack. If it wasn't for me you'd still be tied to that tree in the woods." She smiled and I couldn't help but do the same, happy to have her by my side once again.

We were about to take off when someone touched my arm. I looked up and it was Mary. Her pale face marked with tears and pain. But her eyes were focused. Dead focused.

"I deserve a chance to spit on his dead body."

We all looked at her. She was the one who had been the most hurt by Gregory. Mary, of all people, deserved payback. I pulled her close to us, into the star. The campers around us wished us luck.

Hades stroked his beard and said.

"I'm not going to get my chance at the throne tonight, am I?"

Lucy smirked. "Go home, dad."

The god of the underworld smiled at his daughter. "Bossy like your mother," he started to walk away from us. "If you see my brother up there, tell him we'll have other chances to settle our differences before the end of times. That was a lot of work for nothing."

In a black smoke, Hades was gone and so was Cerberus. Who remained the entire time sitting in the corner, just like Lucy ordered him to.

"Are you ready?" Lucy asked me.

"Hell yes," I said. "To Olympus!"

The marks on the floor that formed the six-pointed star shined in gold as golden bars appeared all around us, closing us inside a rectangular shaped box that was shot into the sky, past the roof of the lobby and toward the clouds. The golden bars around us were made of nothing but light and there was no floor below our feet.

Suddenly we came to a halt, and before us stood two majestic golden gates. We stepped into the stone in front of us, we were in the middle of the sky, the lights of London hundreds of meters below us. The wind was cold and humid and it was hard to breathe. I stepped forward and forced the gates that opened on their own and granted us passage to the city of the gods.

"Woah." Jane whispered beside me. A long stone road led to a floating island, filled by monumental palaces and temples, all in white and gold, lighted by flames and torches.

"No sign of the traitor." Mary said, starting to stroll down the road. We rushed behind her, looking for any sign of Gregory, when his pretentious voice sounded behind us.

"I guess Lord Hades took off, no? Once a coward, always a coward. That is why he's still exiled to the underworld after all this time."

We turned around and saw Gregory behind the golden gates, his electric blue eyes staring at us stone cold, his sword in his grip.

"It's over, Gregory." I said, raising my sword. "Hades backed down. You lost."

He came closer to me, a wild look on his face, something unlike anything I'd ever seen before. "It's time to shut your goddamn mouth once and for all, Jack!"

Lightning cracked the night and revolved itself around his blade.

"You are in the middle of the sky, Jack. He has the advantage." Mary whispered in my ear.

"Mary, my love. How are you?" Gregory said, looking at her. "Been inside Jack's pants already, you whore? Isn't that what you wanted? That's what you, your mother and all your sisters are. A bunch of whores."

Mary's face twisted in pure hatred. "You fucking liar!" She reached for her sword and raced toward her former lover, grabbing him by the armor and pushing him out of the road to Olympus. My stomach froze as I watched them tumble over the side of the road and fall into the sky, disappearing from our sight.

"Mary!" I screamed, looking down, seeing nothing but blackness down below. My heart raced as I called for Ace. My voice echoing through the clouds, while I kept on trying to deny what I had just seen.

"Jack, he's a son of Zeus, he can control wind currents. There's a chance they survived, but for that they would have to land on the highest building beneath us." Lucy said. I looked down and saw the lights of the unfinished clock tower right below us.

Ace emerged from the night before me. I jumped on his back and turned to face Lucy and Jane one last time. "You stay and warn the gods! Gregory is mine!"

"Good luck!" I heard them saying before Ace shot down like a cannonball toward the ground.

"The clock tower, buddy!"

As we approached the top of the tower, Ace slowed down and hovered around the structure, while I tried to locate Mary and Gregory in the middle of the scaffoldings and white covers.

"Come closer."

Ace followed my command and I could see the place better. Construction was in the middle of erecting the clock, in a way that the scaffoldings were placed between and around the clock's internal structure. The white covers that protected the working site from the rain made it hard for me to spot Gregory with his white armor and clothes.

"Hover on top of tower, Ace." We were now directly on top of it, but I still couldn't find the son of Zeus. Careful, I told Ace to land on the closest scaffolding. The wood boards over the metal structures were too weak so I hopped off of Ace while he hanged in the air.

"Thanks, buddy." I said, but Ace remained silent as he flew away back to where Cherry was. I climbed down from where I was till I reached a narrow platform that circled the heart of the clock. Above me, the black sky started to be filled by clouds and I knew that Gregory was there. Hiding somewhere in that clock tower.

I held my breath and tried to be silent, but he could be anywhere around me, ready to strike me at any time. I kept on walking around the clock when the silence was broken by a low and constant cackling sound. Electricity.

I ducked in time for Gregory's electric blade to cut the air above my hair, I counter-attacked by hitting his stomach with the hilt of my sword. He stepped away as I started charging against him, putting him on the defensive. He defended one of my blows and span his body to attack me on the other side, now it was his time to charge against me. Every encounter of our blades was painful to me. His lightning blade forced my arm, my muscles becoming stiffer at every blow I defended, weakening my grip around the hilt of Perseus' sword.

I was an easy opponent in those conditions. Gregory cornered me against the metal railings of the platform, my face almost touching the metal gears of the giant clock, its teeth dangerously close to my eyes. I needed a way out. With a violent blow, I managed to keep Gregory away for a split second, enough for me to think. The construction had water and steam pipes all around it, I could feel their flow, their volume.

Without losing sight of Gregory's blade, I focused on the closest one with everything I could. A pipe running below our feet busted open, spraying water meters up, like a geyser. The sweet touch of the water aided my hurt arm and brought focus back to my mind. With one strong blow, I managed to make Gregory back away. He stepped back, grinning while spinning his electric sword.

I focused and ripped as many pipes as I could, almost making it rain inside the clock tower, surrounding us by falling water. "We are up high and surrounded by water, I guess this makes our fight fair." Gregory said, chuckling.

"Where's Mary?" I asked him, trying to break inside his wild mind. I could see that he was completely out of his mind, his eyes gleaming psychotically while he spun his sword.

"Why do you care about that whore, Jack? No, forget that, you guys belong together. A thief and a whore. The perfect couple."

"Where is she?" I screamed, charging against him. He laughed maniacally while defending my blows.

"She is dead, Jack! I saw her die with my own eyes! I heard her moan for mercy like a little whore while I made her bleed." He laughed out loud, letting every single bit of his madness show. I tried to maintain focus, tell myself that that was a lie he was using with the intent of breaking my concentration. But I just couldn't, the mere thought of Mary being gone was enough to bring me to my knees.

Gregory kicked me in the stomach and blood flew from my mouth, I had to run away from him to avoid being killed. I felt the water on my skin, felt it giving me strength again, but the pain was still there, too much for the water to handle.

"Your little friend, the daughter of Ares will be next, Jack. I will make sure that you watch while I beat her down, while I destroy that pretty little face of hers and rip out her clothes. I will make you watch as I fuck her before slitting her throat."

"You are completely mad!" I screamed at him, his words echoing inside my brain, making my blood boil.

"No, I'm not mad, Jack! This world is mad! These so called gods are mad! They are nothing but sadistic and depraved beings, who don't care about whose lives they destroy or curse!"

Above us, the clouds started to roar with thunder and lightning, the wind blowing stronger. It was nature protesting, the gods were angry.

"Come at me, Jack! Release all the anger you have for me! Come on!" He screamed, his voice entering my ears and acting as a spark on the boiling alcohol that had become my blood. I screamed from deep inside my throat and raced toward him, hitting him with all that I had, my blade thirsty for his blood, my arms desperate to silence his maniacal laugh once and for all. That feeling was transported to the water around me, the tiny drips of water acted as extensions of myself, whipping against Gregory's face, filling up his nose, suffocating him under all my rage.

With a final blow his sword flew away, falling down the clock tower, hitting endless metal structures until reaching the ground dozens of meters below us. I pointed the tip of my blade at his throat while he kept on chuckling, looking amused by the whole situation.

"Well, look who came to join us."

Behind him, I saw Mary holding on to the railing of the platform, blood spilling out of her mouth and from a cut in her stomach.

"Mary!" I shouted, wanting to rush out to help her, but Gregory stood between me and her.

"This stinking bitch sure is hard to kill," He said, glancing distastefully at her. "You are right, Jack. I lost. You got me," He smiled maniacally. "But if I'm going down, you're coming with me."

Gregory raised his hand toward Mary and night blinked into day as a lightning cracked the sky and hit Mary full on, making her fall to the side, her body completely inert, lifeless. The last sound she uttered being a weak and shocked call for help. A scream formed inside my throat and my whole body started to hurt, as if someone was burning me alive.

Gregory looked into my eyes. In his face, there wasn't even a remembrance of the guy I met in Camp Half-Blood. There was no more Gregory, son of Zeus. He opened a smile and whispered. "I win, Jack."

A wave of fire went down my body as I lost control of all my actions. My left hand flew to Gregory's neck while Perseus' blade on my right hand busted inside Gregory's stomach. He squealed in pain while blood spilled out of his mouth. I grabbed his face and smashed his head against the railing. His body fell on the ground, his blue eyes staring at me while the life faded away from him slowly.

And then there was silence. No more chuckles, no more screams. Just silence. I stood there, in shock, looking down at Gregory's dead body for minutes. My hands and clothes covered in blood. Perseus' sword slipped through my grip and I ran over to Mary. Her hand was cold in mine, I picked her up and her head fell back, her body was completely motionless, heavy and loose.

"Wake up, beautiful," I whispered, tears strolling down my face. "Wake up." But her eyes remained shut as I held her through the night, trying to stop the tears, ease the pain. I looked up at the black sky and wished for that night to come to an end.

I lifted Mary's dead body in my arms and carried her down the tower.


	13. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

Hades gave up and Olympus was saved, it was another victory for the heroes of Camp Half-Blood. Yet, no one celebrated. In the days after the battle, everyone at camp focused their attentions on organizing the things that would be taken to America – Paintings, battle trophies and various objects blessed by the gods were in the list. All the rest would remain in Britain, as would the lives of those who died in battle, making the ultimate sacrifice to keep the flame of the west burning.

Since London, I avoided everyone. I didn't want to speak about what happened, I didn't want to remember it. The Aphrodite sisters, led by Erica, the new head of the cabin, organized a ceremony with all the proper rituals for Mary, but I didn't attend it. I didn't want to see her dead body, I didn't want to face the fact that such a beautiful and good girl died because of me. Because I couldn't protect her. And most of all, I didn't want to face the part of me who died the moment that lightning stroke her.

I was locked inside Cabin Three while the other campers were out there, paying their respects to the eldest daughter of Aphrodite of her generation. It was so meaningless. She died for nothing. Absolutely nothing. And it was my entire fault. If I had been stronger, if I had killed Gregory before he… But I didn't. I had him, I had him at the mercy of my sword and I hesitated. After everything he'd done, I hesitated before killing him. And for that, he took her away from me. He killed part of my heart that night.

Someone knocked on the door, but I didn't answer. The person ignored my silence and opened the door, letting the afternoon breeze inside the dusty old Poseidon Cabin.

"You can't hide forever." She said. It was Jane.

I glanced at her and felt thankful for her being there, but I didn't show it. Instead I closed my expression and went back to staring at the wood floor.

"You can't blame yourself forever, Jack. It's not…" She hesitated, letting out a sigh. "It's not what Mary would've wanted."

I stared at her. She was right, as almost always.

"Mary believed in you like no one. You were her hero. I could see it in the way she looked at you, in her voice when she talked to you. She loved you, Jack. You meant the world to her."

Tears strolled down Jane's face and my heart sank. For a second I forgot about my pain and all I could care about was making her stop crying. I stood up and held her in my arms. She put her face on my shoulder and I could feel her tears penetrating my clothes.

"If you tell anyone that you saw me crying, I'll poke your eyes out." She said, between sobs. I smiled for the first time in days and held her tighter.

"I miss her." I said, holding off my own tears.

Jane pushed me away and wiped the tears off her face. She stared at me with her fiery green eyes, her expression in a gray area between angry and sad. She swallowed dry and folded her arms.

"Do you want to know how I knew that she loved you just by seeing the way she looked at you?"

I stayed silent, my heart beating fast, my arms missing being around her.

"Because it was the same way that I looked at you."

She ran out of the cabin, leaving the door open behind her. I stood there, the warm breeze on my face and the words stuck in my throat. My heart was beating fast and I couldn't feel my legs. That was me, always paralyzed by love.

That night was the last for me, Jane and all the other campers in Britain. The next morning we would fly to London and get on board a ship that would take us, the pegasi and the camp's valuable objects to America. We all heard the news earlier that day – the Americans had declared independence. The war with Britain was still at large, but that act of pursuit of freedom was the beginning of the flame that would make the United States of America the new home of the gods. It was time for us to leave.

That last night in England I dreamed about Mary. I saw her wearing a white dress, standing at the bank of a river, the sun shining high in the sky. I tried to run toward her, but I couldn't. She turned around, looked at me and smiled, as if saying that she was happy, that it wasn't my fault. She then nodded and waved me goodbye, because she didn't had the chance to do it before.

I woke up sweating, even though it was a rainy summer night. I stared at Perseus' sword on my nightstand and made a promise with myself. I promised to never let anyone die like Mary, to protect and fight for everyone I loved.

And with that thought, my heart started beating faster. I put on clothes and went to the door. It was the middle of the night, but I didn't care. On my doorstep, I looked over to the right, to Cabin Five in the rain. I sighed and went back inside, it wasn't the time to do that. I closed the door and was walking toward the bed, when someone knocked. My heart skipped a beat as I ran to open the door.

She was there, all wet, breathing heavily, tears mixed with the drops of rain in her face.

"I love you." Jane said. "I love you since the first moment I saw you. I love you even with you being an idiot who's too stupid to notice the girl by your side falling for you. I love you even though you're so slow that you had me come here in the middle of the night just to tell you what you couldn't notice for yourself."

My heart stopped. I took a step outside to be in front of her, both of us under the rain now. I touched her face and she closed her eyes. In that moment, I realized what Mary meant in my dream. She wanted to say goodbye, she wanted me to let her go, to find happiness. She wanted me to find love.

"I love you too, you rude, violent and crazy girl. I love you too, Jane."

I stared at her for an entire minute while I touched her face, until she grunted and rolled her eyes. "Gods, Jack, even to do this you are slow. Come here." Jane grabbed the back of my head and pushed my lips onto hers, making my entire body tremble with emotion. The touch of her sweet lips were the best feeling I had ever felt. Without parting our lips, we got into the cabin and fell on the bed, our bodies warming each other against the cold breeze that got in through the opened door.

We made love again and for the first time. And suddenly nothing hurt anymore, suddenly I was in peace. Suddenly I had found where I belonged.

The next day, we traveled by Pegasus to London and spent hours loading everything into a mid-sized ship that would be our home for the next two weeks, while we sailed across the Atlantic to the new land of the gods. The spirit of the city of tomorrow was already different that morning. From the docks, I looked over to the clock tower and I had the deepest impression that something was missing.

"The gods have said goodbye to England." Chiron said, beside me and Jane. "I'm guessing they'll already be there when we arrive." He touched me on the shoulder and smiled, before starting giving orders to the campers transporting the variety of invaluable relics that composed the history of Camp Half-Blood into the ship.

Close to us, a little boy was selling newspapers, chanting the day's headlines in the attempt of attracting buyers. "Extra! Extra! Mysterious Fair is accused of financing the American's independence army! Read more in today's edition!"

I chuckled. "Looks like Lucy is finding her way to America as well."

I was so moved that other night, that I don't even remember ever telling her goodbye.

Suddenly, Chiron stopped giving orders and looked at the distance. He then walked toward me and pointed at a tall man wearing a navy uniform who stared directly at us with his sparkling green eyes.

"I think someone is here to see you before we go." Chiron said, before walking away.

Jane held my hand tight and whispered in my ear. "Should I get my brothers so we can kick that guy's ass?"

I smiled and kissed her forehead. "Maybe later, let me see what he wants."

"Ugh, still taking the fun out of everything, Jack Brown. You'll never change"

I let go of her hand and walked till the man. He was tall and had black hair and beard, the wrinkles on his face served as proof of his wisdom and life experience, which seemed as vast as the sea. He smiled as I got close to him.

I glanced at his British navy uniform and asked. "Am I in some kind of trouble, officer?"

The man chuckled and all the hair in my body stood up while a long forgotten memory from my childhood resurfaced in my mind. I had heard that laugh before.

"Hello, son." He said.

I stared at him, not sure if I should be happy, honored or just annoyed by his presence. "Dad?" It felt so weird to use that word. "What do you want?"

Poseidon smiled. "I just wanted to say goodbye to Britain's last great hero. You did a fine job, son. I'm proud of you."

"A fine job?" I said, this time deciding on being angry. "I lost a very dear friend, I failed to protect her and you tell me I did a fine job? I guess that doesn't matter to you gods. As long as Olympus and your thrones are preserved, you think everything went well."

His expression turned sad and he nodded in agreement. "Us gods can be a little self-centered sometimes, I apologize for that. Heroes live tragic lives, son, specially the great ones. It comes with the territory, that's what Gregory never accepted, never understood. True heroes are willing to sacrifice everything for his cause. And demigods are the greatest heroes on Earth. There's also another reason why I came, I bring a message of an old friend for you."

I folded my arms and waited for the message. Poseidon smiled and touched my shoulder.

"Aphrodite wanted you to know that you deserve to be happy and that she is proud of what you did to her daughter. You gave her a reason to fight, you gave her the possibility to feel love one last time. And so she died happy, because she died for love."

I swallowed dry and tried to hold back the tears. I wasn't going to cry in front of my father. Behind me, the captain of the ship ringed the bell, warning everyone to get on board.

"You should go now, son. You don't want to lose your ship."

I nodded and started walking away when he called me one last time.

"Jack, just one last thing."

"What?"

"Your mother. She wanted you to know that she didn't abandon you. Leaving you was the hardest thing she ever did, but she had to do it to protect you, to make everyone think that my son had fled Europe."

I looked at him and smiled.

"Maybe you should look for her when you get to America. Good luck, son."

In the blink of an eye, Poseidon was gone, leaving behind nothing but the smell of the ocean. I turned around and faced the ship, everyone was on board, except for Jane, who was waiting for me. I walked over to her and kissed her for the last time in our motherland.

We smiled and I grabbed her hand, walking with her on board the ship. The anchor was pulled up and the sails were set. The ship started moving and I didn't turn around to look back. It was time to move on. It was time to start a new life. I put my arms around Jane and closed my eyes while the ship increased speed, going for the open sea.

America was our destination.

After fifteen days of a very tiring journey, the coast of New York appeared in the horizon and the campers sighed in relief. The sun shined bright in the sky and the sea was calm as a lake. In less than one hour we'd be arriving at the New York port. The colonist army was in control of the port, ready to warn their commanders about any sight of a British battleship, but we had special clearance. The son of Athena, Benjamin Franklin, one of America's first generation of demigods would be at the port to welcome us to the new world.

"What is happening?" Jane said beside me. Suddenly, the sky had turned a deep shade of dark and waves started banging against the ship's hull, getting stronger every second. A violent rain started falling on us as the clouds above us turned almost purple and thunder roared inside of them. The captain issued an alert and everyone's expression turned to total terror. The ship started tilting sideways, because of the sea's rage. People were thrown across the deck. Jane and I wrapped our hands around sail ropes and waited for the sudden storm to pass.

Which it did, almost instantly. Suddenly the sea was calm again, but the sky was covered by clouds and it still rained. Everyone sighed in relief until a young Athena girl screamed and pointed at the sea.

"Look! Everybody, look! There's someone in the sea!"

I narrowed my eyes and saw him, floating unconscious between the waves. Without thinking, I jumped out of the ship and into the cold water. I quickly swam toward him and grabbed him by the jacket, bringing him back to the ship. The sailors threw us a rope and after a minute we were back on board. We laid the man on the deck. He was young, around my age, had black hair and wore some strange pieces of clothing. He wore a shirt the color of an orange inside a black leather jacket.

An Apollo camper rushed in and started treating the man, who had his lungs flooded by water. After almost a minute he regained conscious and started coughing the water out of his lungs. He opened his eyes and seemed confused at what he saw.

"Where am I?" He asked, looking confused at us. He then examined the ship and seemed to not be able to believe his eyes. "No, no, no, this can't be!" He said, getting up, his clothes soaking wet. "Where am I, can someone answer me?"

"You are in a ship on the coast of New York, young man. We found you stray in the sea. You need to calm down, please." Chiron said, hiding his horse half under the entrance to the inside of the hull.

The man turned to face him and seemed relieved. "Chiron! Thank the gods, where am I? What happened after…?"

Chiron looked scared at him. "How do you know my name?"

"You are Chiron, the centaur, you trained me. Don't you remember?"

"I have never seen you in my entire life, young man. And I never forgot a single hero I trained."

The man gasped and turned to face the horizon, he then put his hands on his head and seemed on the edge of a breakdown. "Wait, that isn't New York. It can't be New York."

I approached him and said. "Yes it is. Where are you from?"

"Wait a minute, if that's New York, then…" He swallowed dry. "What year is this?"

"1776. Did you bang your head or something?"

He looked at me and all the color disappeared from his face.

"This isn't possible!"

"I think he did bang his head. And hard." Jane whispered to me.

The man suddenly caught a glimpse of my birthmark, he pointed at it. "Hey, you're a son of Poseidon."

Before I could say anything, he lifted the sleeve of his jacket and revealed his birthmark.

A rose.

Everyone gasped in shock. It wasn't possible, there had never been a…

"Look," He started saying. "I have no idea how I got here, but I need to go back… I can't stay here, I have people that I need to go back to."

"And where do you need to go back to?" I asked him.

"To the present. My present. More than 280 years in the future."

I looked at him, amazed at how he could pull off such a joke with a straight face.

"Who the hell are you?"

He looked at me as if he needed my help to save his life.

"My name is Paris Monroe. And I need your help to go back home."

TO BE CONTINUED

_**A/N: We get to the end of another story! I'd like to thank again my girlfriend, Dana (Yes, like Paris's hehe), for without her constant support and critical eye, none of this would be possible. I love you so much, baby.**_

_**I'd also like to thank everyone who read and reviewed. I hope you all had a great time following Jack and the gang in this adventure and I hope you come back for more! **___

_**If **_**London Calling**_** is the first story of mine that you read, you can know about who Paris is in **_**The Son of Aphrodite**_**. If you already know all of that, then I'm glad to announce that the next project will be **_**The Son of Aphrodite: Part II **_**and it will begin in the next few days. If you want to know what happens next to Jack and Jane, stay tuned to the following stories…**_

_**It was a great ride as always and I learned a lot playing with more mature themes and genres. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. **_

_**Until next time,**_

_**Pedro. **_


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